


Trip to Love

by YourArtMatters23 (UnspokenConnection24)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Complete, F/M, Road Trip, Stydia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-02 15:43:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10947606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnspokenConnection24/pseuds/YourArtMatters23
Summary: "Just to be sure, we are really going on a road trip together in like six weeks, right?" he questioned again. "Yes, Stiles, we are", she replied with a smile. When Lydia is afraid of flying, Stiles offers to drive her to her cousins for the holidays. Little did they know that a lot more was going to happen during the trip than just driving... ((Stydia Road Trip))





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf or any of the characters.

"This food is getting worse every day", Stiles said, poking around in his food. He was sitting in the cafeteria at school with his friends, but none of them were listening to him. 

Scott and Allison were busy with each other, stealing the others food and giggling. And Lydia was completely wrapped up in her own thoughts, her expression changing from annoyed to sad to angry every so often. 

"Lydia, are you alright?" Stiles asked her softly. 

"Yeah, I'm fine", Lydia lied.

"You're obviously not alright, Lydia, you can tell me", Stiles answered, moving closer to where she was sitting. 

"It's not a big deal." 

"So, just tell me", Stiles countered at once with a small smile on his lips.

"Okay fine. As you know I am going to visit my cousins in Portland for a few weeks this summer", Lydia started and Stiles nodded his head.

"And the problem is that I just realised today that I have to fly there" Lydia finished, looking completely defeated.

Stiles was utterly confused. 

"So?" he asked when she didn't explain anything further.

"I'm... I'm TERRIFIED of flying", Lydia exclaimed. 

"You are afraid of flying? Seriously? Lydia, you're a banshee, you fight against werewolves on an almost weekly basis and find dead bodies and you are afraid of flying?!" he asked just to make sure he got that right. 

Lydia looked at him with wide and fearful eyes and that was all the answer he had needed. He scooted even closer to her and put his arm around her shoulder, squeezing it gently to comfort her. 

"I wish I could just drive over there! I looked it up, it's only 962 miles! I could make it a two day trip and spend the night in a hotel and..." she rambled.

Her rambling was cut off by the bell ringing to signal that the next class would start in 10 minutes. 

Lydia gathered her lunch that she had hardly touched and left the cafeteria before Stiles was able to get another word in. 

*****

Lydia had spent the rest of the school day trying to figure out a way how she could get around the flight and she was still thinking about it when she got home. She was looking forward to seeing her twin cousins, Sophia and Jamie, again but she couldn't shake the fear that was clouding the anticipation she felt for the trip. 

They had been planning this for months, ever since Sophia and Jamie had been accepted to college in Portland, Oregon.

Suddenly a knock on her front door made her stop thinking about everything as she went to answer the door because she knew her mum was still at work. 

Lydia opened the door and before she was able to get a word in, Stiles started talking while walking past her. 

"So here's the thing: you will probably think I'm nuts, but just hear me out first before you say anything! I promise it'll be worth it. But just listen until I have explained everything because..." 

"Stiles! Get to the point!" Lydia cut him off when she couldn't take any more of his rambling.

"Sorry", Stiles replied, playing nervously with the hair at the back of his head. 

"Ok, so I was thinking that I could just drive you to Portland. This way you won't have to fly there and your mum won't be worried about you driving all the way up there by yourself!" Stiles explained, surprising even himself by his seemingly calm voice. 

"You're right" Lydia simply replied, arms crossed in front of her. 

Stiles was shocked. Of course he had hoped that she would accept his offer but he had prepared himself for a big argument. Because as perfect as Lydia was, the one thing she was bad at was accepting help. 

He just stood there, gaping at her. A small smile spread across his face and he was just about to say something when Lydia spoke again.

"You're right", she repeated, "I do think you're nuts" she added.

"You can't just drive me to Portland because I'm afraid of flying, Stiles! Didn't you hear me say it's 962 miles? And you would have to go all the way back! That means you will be driving 1.926 miles just to get me to Portland! I can't let you do that, that's just..." 

"1.924..." Stiles mumbled, unable to stop himself.

"What?" Lydia asked, confused.

"If I drove you to Portland and had to get back it would be 1.924 miles, not 1.926..." Stiles explained quietly.

Lydia’s eyes widened in surprise when she noticed her mistake. But it was only a second before she gained the control over her facial expression back.

"So not the point, Stiles!" she exclaimed, trying and failing to wipe the smirk off of Stiles' face. Lydia crossed her arms in front of her. "The point is that I'm not letting you do this", she finished.

"Lydia, look", Stiles said, "I knew you would say this! But I have to go to Seattle during the summer to visit my grandparents and I might as well drive there. So it's not a big deal! It's even on the way, I looked it up", Stiles explained. 

"Are you serious? Why would you DRIVE to Seattle?" Lydia asked, still not satisfied with his reasoning.

"Why can't you just say thank you and accept the fact that I want to do this for you? I know how much you have been looking forward to that trip and I really like driving. So please, Lydia, just stop arguing and let me drive you to Portland!" Stiles said, raising his voice, almost pleading at the end. 

Lydia was shocked into silence by his words. Did he really just offer to drive her 962 miles? Because she was afraid of flying? He couldn't be serious! Of course Lydia knew that Stiles always went out of his way to help her or save her or make her happy but now he was really taking it too far. Even though he claimed he was driving to Seattle anyway, she was sure that he would take a plane to Seattle if it wasn't for her situation. And why was she hearing about his grandparents from Seattle for the first time? 

Lydia was trying to come up with more arguments against his idea, but she had run out of them. Well, that wasn’t completely true. She had plenty more arguments, but she couldn’t tell Stiles any of them. It was common knowledge that he had been in love with her since the third grade, but what no one knew, was the fact that Lydia had also developed some feelings for the boy. She didn’t even know what kind of feelings she was having, but she knew that he had become a very important person in her life. There was no way in hell that she was going to tell him about it, especially not before she had figured them out herself. 

Those feelings that she didn’t even admit to herself most of the time were also the number one reason why she didn’t want Stiles to drive her to Portland. How was she supposed to get through hours and hours of being alone in the car with him? She was mostly avoiding situations where she was alone with Stiles and it was working pretty well. This of course didn’t include the times they had to fight against the supernatural. 

Lydia was so stunned that Stiles had almost shouted at her and since she had run out of arguments anyway she could only say: “Fine.”

Now Stiles was the one who was at a loss for words. His eyes widened and a grin was slowly taking over his face. 

“Seriously?” he asked with the biggest grin on his face that she had ever seen. 

“Yes, seriously!” Lydia answered and she couldn’t help smiling back at him. 

“Ok, so I thought we should leave in exactly 6 weeks from today, if that’s ok with you. I will pick you up at 6am so we can start the first day early and then we can drive until I get tired and get a motel room and drive the rest of the way the next day…” Stiles started rambling again.

“I think we can go over the details in a few weeks, Stiles”, Lydia said quickly when he stopped his babbling for a second to breath. 

“Yeah, right, you’re right, sorry.” Stiles said, blushing and fumbling nervously with his hair again. “I guess I should go now then…”

Stiles turned around and went towards his jeep after they had said their goodbyes, but when he was half way there, he turned around again. 

“Just to be sure, we are really going on a road trip together in like six weeks, right?” he questioned again.  
“Yes, Stiles, we are”, she replied with a smile.

He returned the smile and continued his way to the jeep when Lydia suddenly remembered that she hadn’t even thanked him yet.

“Thank you!” she called after him, to which he only looked back briefly and mumbled something that sounded a lot like “my pleasure”. Lydia couldn’t help but blush and was grateful that he couldn’t see it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next Chapter! I hope you like it so far and I love to hear what you think so please reviews :)

Five weeks later the last day of school before the summer holidays had finally arrived. Everyone was in a good mood and the cafeteria was even louder than usual, filled with excited chatter about plans for the holidays. Lydia was just as excited as the others about the holidays and she was so glad that she would finally get to see her cousins again after such a long time. They had been really close when they were little, but Sophia and Jamie had moved away when they were 12 and ever since then they had only been in contact over the phone or the internet. 

They were almost like sisters to Lydia and even though Sophia and Jamie were twins and two years older than her, she had never once felt like the third wheel. She had been so happy for them when they had been accepted to their dream college in Portland and now she couldn’t wait to finally see them again. 

What she didn’t look forward to though was the long drive with Stiles. In the past few weeks, Stiles had gotten really close with Malia, a werecoyote girl Scott and Stiles had helped a few weeks back. She had become a constant part of the pack and Lydia had to admit she fit in well. She was funny (mostly without meaning to be) and she was a strong person, which Lydia admired about Malia. 

But every time Lydia saw her with Stiles, she had a weird feeling in her stomach which she couldn’t shake. And the worst part was that Stiles had made Lydia out to be the one to give him advice. So every few days Stiles would tell Lydia everything he and Malia had been up to and Lydia pretended not to mind and told him what she thought.

Stiles was completely oblivious to Lydia’s feeling towards him and had even told her about his first kiss with Malia this morning. He was really excited about it and even though she was glad that he was happy, she couldn’t help but feel completely miserable. 

Lydia had told Allison all about Stiles’ offer to drive her to Portland, but she didn’t want to tell Allison about her feelings for him. She loved Allison, but she also knew that she couldn’t keep secrets from Scott. And Scott wouldn’t keep secrets from Stiles, so she definitely couldn’t tell Allison. 

But since Lydia had really needed to talk to someone about everything, she had skyped with Sophia and Jamie on an almost daily basis for the past weeks. It was the perfect solution since they really cared about and knew Lydia and at the same time she didn’t need to worry about them telling Stiles.

Lydia was trying her best not to show her bad mood about Stiles and Malia and concentrated on her excitement about Portland and seeing her cousins. But as she was sitting in the cafeteria with her friends it was kind of hard to do. Scott and Allison were talking quietly about what they were going to do for their anniversary next week and Stiles was trying to get Malia to watch Star Wars with him. And while Lydia had tried really hard she just couldn’t take it anymore. 

Sitting there and watching the two couples would have been hard enough considering that she was alone, but her feelings for Stiles made it almost physically painful for Lydia to watch. 

“I’m heading to the library, guys. I have to finish an essay for econ. See you later”, Lydia said while getting up to leave. 

Her friends waved their goodbyes but she could feel Stiles looking at her even after she had turned around but left the cafeteria without looking back at him. 

When she got to the library she went to her favourite place. There was a little sofa and an armchair that had become Lydia’s hide out when she wanted to be alone. No matter how packed the library was, her hide out was never occupied because it was in the back corner where they stored the books about mythology. 

Lydia sat down in the armchair and took out a random book about werewolves to occupy herself or more precisely to stop thinking about –

“Stiles?” Lydia asked surprised. 

“Are you okay?” he asked as he sat down on the sofa across from her. 

“Yeah, why? And why did you follow me here?” Lydia was annoyed. All she had wanted was a little peace and quiet and to NOT think about Stiles for a while but of course he had to finally pay attention to her again exactly when she didn’t want him to. They hadn’t spent any time together like they had done before Malia came into the picture. The only occasions that Stiles did talk to her was to ask her something about Malia. 

“Lydia, we don’t have an essay due in econ… So what’s wrong? Why did you leave the cafeteria?” Stiles did have a point and she could punch herself for not realising that they had econ together, so of course he knew that she just made that up as an excuse to not have to watch him flirt with Malia any longer. But she obviously couldn’t tell him that. 

“Oh, did I say econ? I meant … uh … history.” She tried and failed to cover her lie. 

Stiles just raised his eyebrows disbelievingly and went over to her. He crouched down in front of her and took the book from her hands. 

“What is going on?” He asked again, looking her straight in the eyes. Lydia felt her eyes water at the concerned expression on his face and lowered her head so he wouldn’t see. But she knew it was too late when a tear escaped her eye and Stiles brushed it away with his thumb. 

“Lydia,” he said quietly “you can tell me. Whatever it is, I’m here for you” he continued, trying to get her to speak. 

“I don’t know” Lydia replied quietly, brushing away another tear. She had never been one to cry, especially not in front of people, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop them. 

“You don’t know why you’re crying?” Stiles asked carefully when she didn’t elaborate. 

Lydia just nodded. Stiles had put his hands on her arms and rubbed up and down her arms gently to comfort her but it only made Lydia cry harder and there was nothing she could do to stop. 

“Please, can you leave, Stiles?” Lydia suddenly asked and she could see the hurt on his face at her words. But she knew that she would not be able to pull herself together when he was looking at her with so much concern and emotion in his eyes. Stiles’ hands left her arms and for a second she thought about just telling him about her feelings, but she knew it wasn’t fair to him. She couldn’t tell him now that he had finally moved on and found Malia. 

Stiles was still cowering in front of her and Lydia tried very hard not to look at him to keep herself from telling him everything. 

“Stiles, please” she begged when he didn’t move. 

“If you really want me to leave, I will. But I just want you to know that I’m here for you, so if you decide you want to talk, just text me or call or, you know. I’m here for you, Lydia.”

Lydia just nodded and then he turned around and left hesitantly. She let her tears fall freely for a few minutes until she decided that she had to pull herself together now. She was Lydia Martin after all. Without Stiles there she finally managed to get it together and went to the bathroom to fix her make-up. She was surprised to find that it was still intact for the most part. 

Luckily Lydia only had one more class for the day, AP algebra, where Lydia didn’t have to face any of her friends. AP algebra was her favourite subject and the only subject where she could get forget everything around her.

When she got home she already saw Stiles’ jeep parked in front of her house and she almost just drove off again, but he had already seen her and walked towards her car to open the door for her. 

“Thanks” she mumbled as she got out of her car. 

They walked into her house in silence and sat down on the couch, the awkward silence was almost palpable. 

“Look” they both said at the same time, causing them both to smile a little which took away a bit of the tension. 

“You can go first if you want” Stiles offered. 

“I’m sorry about how I acted before. I just needed to be alone for a while, but I’m fine now. So, I’m really sorry, Stiles” Lydia said, looking down at the floor. 

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. I’m just really worried about you, Lydia. I have never seen you cry like this and it kind of scared me. Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Stiles tried again. 

“There is nothing wrong, Stiles. I don’t know what happened earlier, I was just watching Scott and Allison and you and Malia and I felt kind of lonely, I guess…” Lydia hadn’t planned on admitting any of that but when Stiles was looking at her the way he did now she just couldn’t stop herself and all the words just seemed to spill out of her. 

“What? Lydia, just because Allison is with Scott doesn’t mean that they are just going to forget about you. And the same goes for Malia and me, of course.” Stiles assured her, relieved that it had nothing to do with any new supernatural threats. 

“So, are you and Malia are officially a thing now?” Lydia questioned, trying to sound casual. 

“I don’t know, we haven’t really talked about it…” Stiles replied, his face lighting up. Lydia felt like she had been punched in the stomach but she mustered a smile. 

“You seem happy, that’s great.” Lydia said with a smile that was not reaching her eyes. 

“Thanks, I am!” Stiles replied with a smile. “But I want you to know that me being with Malia doesn’t change anything between us, okay? I still care about you and I don’t ever want you to feel like you can’t come to me when something is wrong.” 

Lydia just nodded, keeping the fake smile on her face. She didn’t know what to say because he was just so wrong. His relationship with Malia changed everything between them. How could he be so oblivious about all this when he had been the only one to see through the act she had been putting on at school for all those years? It was probably because he was now paying attention to Malia instead of her, Lydia thought to herself bitterly. 

And the worst part was that she knew she could only blame herself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! Please comment what you think :)

Five days later Stiles picked Lydia up at her house at 9am. They hadn’t spoken much after their conversation at Lydia’s house besides to discuss the details for their trip. Stiles was responsible for the food and Lydia would take care of the music since she didn’t trust his taste in music. They had agreed to drive to Sacramento on the first day, sleep in a motel and then drive the rest of the way on day two of their trip. 

Lydia was already waiting in front of her house when Stiles pulled up to her driveway in his jeep. She would never admit it to him but she secretly loved Stiles’ jeep. She knew how much it meant to him since it had belonged to his mother before she had passed away and she kind of felt at home in it. The feeling of safety she got in the jeep certainly had nothing to do with the person who always came with it. Of course not. 

Stiles got out of the jeep, took her suitcase and put it in the trunk. Lydia was glad that they had talked it all out before the trip. Even though they hadn’t talked much since, it was not awkward between them. Stiles still thought that she had cried because she had felt left out, which wasn’t a complete lie either. She did feel like a third wheel with them sometimes, but she also knew deep down that she didn’t have to. But she was glad that she had been able to use this as a reason for her crying. 

“So”, Stiles said when they had both settled in. “Let’s go”. 

“Ready when you are”, Lydia replied with a smile. 

Stiles pulled out of her driveway and Lydia was starting to feel a bit nervous. How was she supposed to sit next to Stiles for about 8 hours? What were they supposed to talk about? And why was it so hard to talk to him all of a sudden? Before she had noticed that she was feeling differently towards Stiles, they had talked for hours easily but now she couldn’t think of a single thing she could say to him. 

“So tell me about your cousins”, Stiles said after they had been driving in silence for a few minute. 

“Alright”, Lydia said, smiling. “Well, they’re twins, first of all. But not identical, well not identical at all! No one ever believes them when they tell them they are twins because they look so different. Jamie is a few minutes older than Sophia, which she uses against Sophia in every possible situation, but in a funny way, of course. And, ok, you have to try to picture them: Jamie is about as tall as me, so you know, not very tall at all… she has dark brown hair and brown eyes. And then there is Sophia: She is quite tall, blonde and has green eyes. Would you ever guess that those two are twins?” 

“No!” Stiles replied, grinning widely. He loved listening to Lydia talk about things she was passionate about or people she cared about a lot. She would get totally lost in her thoughts and her eyes lit up and Stiles was sure he could listen to her talk like this for hours without ever getting bored. The only problem was that he found it very hard to keep looking at the road instead of Lydia. 

“Exactly” Lydia said, laughing. “We were really close as kids but they moved away when I was ten and I haven’t seen them since then. But we skype often and talk on the phone”

“So you are still very close now?” Stiles asked, genuinely interested. 

“Surprisingly, yes. I was worried when they moved, but we are more like sisters than cousins so I guess it’s kind of impossible to lose touch” Lydia answered. “I can’t believe I will finally see them again tomorrow!” She almost squealed and Stiles couldn’t hold back a laugh. 

Lydia told Stiles some of her favourite memories with her cousins and Stiles would always ask more questions. He was glad he was getting to know more about the real Lydia’s childhood as he only knew the younger Lydia the way she used to act in school. 

She told him all about the summers they spent at their grandparent’s lake house and all the mischief they had been up to. Her eyes lit up at all of the memories and the more stories she told, the more she seemed to remember and Stiles could have listened to her forever.

“Ok, I’m all out of stories now and you are probably bored by now!” Lydia said when she recognized that they had already spent two hours in the car.

“I’m not bored at all” Stiles just replied, glancing over at her briefly before returning his eyes on the road. 

Lydia couldn’t stop herself from blushing slightly. This seemed to happen a lot to her lately and it only ever happened around Stiles. 

“I really want to hear the music you chose since you wouldn’t trust me with it” Stiles said, changing the topic. 

Lydia rummaged in her bag and started looking for the CDs she had brought. She had prepared several CDs with her favourite songs and she had even made sure to put songs on there she knew Stiles liked. When she had found them Stiles suddenly burst out laughing. 

“What?” Lydia questioned confused. He hadn’t even heard anything from the CDs yet so he definitely couldn’t be laughing at her choice of songs.

“Lydia, this jeep is about 100 years old! Do you really think it can play something as new as CDs?” Stiles chuckled. 

“What? Originally, I was just going to plug in my phone to listen to music but then I remembered the age of your jeep and made these CDs. It took me hours, Stiles! And now you are telling me that your jeep can’t even play CDs?” Lydia groaned frustrated. She had put so much time and thought into these CDs.

“It plays tapes…” Stiles said apologetically. “Sorry, I probably should have told you…”

“You think?” Lydia said, chuckling. “I can’t believe I spent a whole afternoon on this for nothing.”

“We could listen to the radio if you want” Stiles offered. 

“Oh, wow! The radio works?” Lydia asked with fake enthusiasm and astonishment.

“One of the few things that do work” Stiles replied turning on the radio. 

After a few minutes they had finally agreed on a channel and drove in comfortable silence for a little. 

“I have to pee!” Lydia said about three hours into the drive. 

“I will get out at the next rest stop and we could also grab something to eat if you like.” 

“Sounds good” Lydia said. 

The rest stop wasn’t very nice, but since Lydia needed to use the restroom quite urgently they stopped there anyway. Stiles parked the car and Lydia practically jumped out the jeep and went towards the restrooms. 

The rest stop was made up of a small building of restrooms on one side, a fuel station and a small shop. 

Lydia went inside and she had never seen any restrooms that were as dirty as these. The floor was littered with toilet paper, it was impossible to see oneself in the mirror through all the dirt and when she dared to look into one of the stalls she almost gaged. She was really desperate but there was no way in hell that she was going to use this toilet. 

Lydia left the restroom and saw Stiles enter the small shop. At least he was holding up his end of the deal by taking care of the food. 

She knew there was no way she could get back in the jeep without using a toilet so her only option left were the woods. Luckily the rest stop was surrounded by trees. 

She quickly made her way over to the woods behind the restroom building and walked into the woods to make sure that there was no chance anyone could see her. 

When she was finished and was about to make her way back to the jeep, she suddenly heard some leaves rustling. She looked around but she couldn't see anyone so she kept walking. Ever since she had found out about werewolves and all these other creatures she tended to be a little paranoid sometimes. And who could blame her, really. 

She heard it again and panicked slightly. She turned around and looked deeper into the woods but she still couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. But when she turned back around her view was blocked by a man who was only standing about two inches in front of her. She let out a small scream and stumbled backwards and would have fallen for sure, but just then the man grabbed her by the arm and yanked her towards him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! Please leave comments :)

Lydia let out another scream, louder this time, praying to god that Stiles or someone else would hear her. The man pressed on of his hands over her mouth to muffle her scream. She was now standing in front of him, her back pressed to the man’s chest. The man started walking deeper into the woods, forcing Lydia to walk forward by holding her tightly to him. 

Lydia fought against his grip, but his arm muscles were the size of footballs and Lydia didn’t stand a chance against his strength. But she didn’t give up. With all of her might she jerked her elbow into the man’s chest and much to her surprise the man collapsed. She fell to the ground with him and suddenly Stiles was kneeling in front of her, baseball bat in hand. 

“Oh my god, Lydia are you ok?” he asked, his eyes roaming over her body to make sure she was still in one piece. 

Stiles helped her get up and she scrambled away from the unconscious man. For the first time, she could get a good look at him. He was wearing old, dirty clothes with holes everywhere. His hair was messy and greasy and it was obvious that the man was probably homeless. 

“I’m fine” Lydia said coldly. 

She began to walk out of the woods and back to the jeep. Stiles didn’t know what to do. Lydia had put up her walls again and he felt completely helpless. Stiles took Lydia’s hand quietly and they walked to the shop. Stiles talked to the shopkeeper quietly, who called the police. They had to wait for a little bit and luckily Stiles was able to convince the policemen not to bother Lydia. He told them what happened and they called an ambulance for the man. It turned out that they had been looking for the man for several months now, and after writing down their contact details they were free to go. 

Lydia had been standing right next to Stiles the whole time, holding onto his hand like an anchor. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone and was still in shock. No matter how many crazy things happened to her, she would never get used to it and it made her angry that she had to go through all this. 

Stiles led her to his jeep and helped her inside. He started driving, figuring that Lydia wanted to get away from that place as fast as possible. Stiles wanted to comfort her so badly, but he wasn’t sure that that would be what she wanted. She just sat there, staring out the window with a blank expression on her face. 

After a few miles, there was another, much better looking rest stop and Stiles parked the jeep again. He needed to do something about this right now. He couldn’t stand seeing the blank expression on Lydia’s face any longer. 

He got out of the jeep and Lydia’s eyes widened in panic when she thought he was leaving her in the jeep by herself. Instead he walked around the jeep to her door and opened it. She climbed out and instead of walking towards the restaurant where she had thought he wanted to go, he opened the backdoor of the jeep and climbed in, motioning for her to follow. She did as she was asked and closed the door behind her. 

They were sitting next to each other and Stiles was looking at Lydia with eyes full of concern while she was staring at her legs. He needed to help her somehow but he didn’t know how. 

“Lydia, are you alright? What happened?” Stiles asked her quietly, touching her arm lightly at which she jumped. 

“I… I went into the woods because the toilet was dirty and then… Then I heard something and suddenly there was this guy…” her voice broke and she started trembling. 

Stiles scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. 

“Shhh, it’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it”, he soothed her. 

Lydia started shaking with sobs and Stiles pulled her even closer so that she was sitting on his lap, simply holding her while she was crying. She curled up into a ball and Stiles rubbed up and down her back to calm her down.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be such a mess. We have been through things that were much worse than this” Lydia said once she had calmed down a little. Her head was still buried in the crook of his neck and his head rested on top of hers. 

“Lydia, stop” Stiles said, holding her even tighter to him. “Don’t be silly. That’s scary stuff, you have every right to be shaken up!” he assured her. 

Lydia lifted her head and looked up at him. His eyes were alight with so much worry and concern and so many other emotions that she couldn’t place and she felt the urge to just kiss him right then and there. In this moment she was sure that there was no other place in the world where she felt as safe as in the arms of Stiles Stilinski. 

They looked into each other’s eyes and Stiles pushed a stray strand of hair back behind her ear and brushed away a tear. His hand stayed on her cheek, tracing small circles. Lydia wanted nothing more than for him to lean in and kiss her.

But just as that thought crossed her mind, a single word popped into her head: Malia. 

Stiles saw the change in her eyes and dropped his hand slowly. Lydia opened the door and got out the jeep, taking a deep breath of fresh air. She couldn’t think about him that way, it would only cause her more pain.

Stiles followed her out of the jeep after he had pulled himself together again. For a second he had thought that she was going to kiss him. He knew that it was crazy but the way she had looked at him in that moment held so much … love? But the more he thought about it, the more sure he was that he was confusing it with something else. She had probably just been grateful for soothing her. 

Lydia was about get back into the passenger seat while Stiles was still trying to calm himself. 

“I will just get us something to eat so we don’t have to stop to get lunch, ok?” Stiles said, expecting Lydia to wait in the car.

“No!” Lydia exclaimed loudly, climbing out of the jeep again quickly. “I… I’ll go with you! I don’t trust you with picking out the right food for me…” Lydia added quickly, trying to hide the fact that she was scared of staying in the jeep by herself.

Stiles and Lydia both knew the real reason but Stiles was considerate as always and didn’t say anything. He just held out his hand to her which she gladly accepted and they walked into the store together. This was a situation they were quite familiar with. They were always clinging to each other and holding hands after fighting against supernatural creatures or the other crap they had to endure and this was a situation that clearly fitted the criteria. 

They walked through the aisles together and each chose a sandwich and something to drink and went to the cashier. 

“I’ll be right back”, Stiles said suddenly, reluctantly letting go of Lydia’s hand. “10 seconds, trust me”, he added, when he saw the slight panic in her eyes. 

She nodded and watched Stiles disappear in one of the aisles and just as promised he reappeared a few seconds later, grinning from ear to ear. She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly and let a smile take over her face. He pulled his hands from behind his back and revealed several Reese’s cups. Lydia’s smile turned into a huge grin as Stiles made his way back to her.

“Best. Idea. Ever!” Lydia admitted and Stiles got the feeling that his grin would stay on his face for ever. One of his favourite things was to make Lydia happy and he was getting pretty good at it lately. 

After they had climbed back into the jeep, Lydia placed all the food and drinks next to her feet and took her shoes off to get comfortable. She was still shaken up but Stiles gave her a feeling of safety and he had a way of making her laugh even in the worst situations. She looked over at him and smiled while he struggled with his seatbelt and quickly turned back around before he noticed. 

Stiles started the jeep and soon they were back on the highway. It was already 3pm even though they had only been on the road for three hours. Talking to the police and Lydia’s breakdown had taken quite some time, so they were a few hours behind their schedule, not that it really mattered. 

“I’m bored”, Lydia said after they had been driving in comfortable silence for a while.

“Well, what do you want to do?” Stiles asked. 

“I don’t know! Our options are kind of limited in here” Lydia said, stating the obvious. “We could play a game!”

“Yes! And I know just the right game!” Stiles exclaimed excitedly. “I don’t actually know what it’s called…”

“Sounds promising…” Lydia interrupted teasingly.

“It’s fun, I promise. Okay, so one of us, or the two of us together answer a question and then we choose a random radio station and the first song we find is the answer to our question” Stiles finished his explanation.

“That actually sounds like it could be fun”, Lydia said astonished.

“I’m going to try not to be offended by the surprise in your voice.” Stiles replied, pouting.

“Okay, I’ll start.” Lydia said, ignoring Stiles’ pout. “What are Scott and Allison doing right now?”

“Oh, that’s a good one!” Stiles said approvingly. 

“Alright, let’s do it. So I just skip through the stations and stop at a random station?” Lydia asked again, making sure she understood the rules correctly. 

“Exactly”, Stiles nodded.

Lydia switched through the stations and finally settled on one. The two of them listen to the lyrics intently and while they both recognized the song neither of them could really place it at first. 

“...it on  
You got the healing that I want  
Just like they say it in the song  
Until the dawn  
Let’s Marvin Gaye and get it on”

Lydia and Stiles burst out laughing at the same time and Stiles had a hard time concentrating on driving, but he managed.

“Ok, I really didn’t need to know that”, Lydia chuckled, wiping away a few tears of laughter. 

“Maybe we should call them to find out if this game is actually telling the truth!” Stiles suggested, still laughing. 

Lydia rummaged through her bag to look for her phone. After what seemed like an eternity to Stiles she finally pulled it out and called Allison on her cell. She immediately put it on loudspeaker so Stiles wouldn't miss anything. 

The phone rang four times before she finally picked up. 

"Hello?!?" Allison said, completely out of breath. 

Stiles and Lydia burst out laughing again, both assuming to know the reason for her heavy breathing. 

"Um... Lydia, is that you?" Allison asked, totally confused. 

Neither Lydia nor Stiles were able to get a word out and every time one of them seemed to calm down, they looked at each other and burst out in laughter again. 

"Okay, I checked the caller ID and I know it's you Lydia, and I'm glad you're obviously having fun but it would be great if you could actually talk to me when you call..." Allison said and they could hear the smirk in her voice. 

"Sorry", Lydia chuckled, trying to calm down. "To answer your question, yes, we are having fun! What are you up to?" 

"That's great, I'm glad! Oh, nothing much! Scott and I are just watching a movie and enjoying the holidays", Allison replied casually and Lydia was trying her hardest not to laugh out loud again. 

Of course they were "watching a movie" Lydia thought to herself. Probably more like making out with a movie playing in the background... 

"Sounds great", Lydia said, keeping her answer short to contain her laughter. 

“How’s your road trip going so far?” Allison asked casually.

Lydia’s smile fell from her face when she thought back to her being attacked in the woods. She didn’t want her to worry and she certainly didn’t want to tell Allison about what happened over the phone. 

“It’s been good so far.” Lydia just answered quietly. 

Allison instantly noticed the change in Lydia’s voice. 

"Are you sure about that? You really don’t sound like it right now… Did something happen with Stiles? Did he kiss you or did you finally..." 

In that exact moment, Lydia pressed the loudspeaker button so that Stiles couldn't hear Allison anymore.

"...admit to yourself that you are in love with him?" she heard Allison finish and was glad that she had at least prevented that Stiles heard the last part. 

"You were on loudspeaker!" Lydia grunted into the phone. 

"Whoops, sorry", Allison giggled. "At least it's out there now so you have to talk about it", she noticed excitedly. 

Lydia was grateful for the change of topic so she could avoid telling Allison about the attack. But how did she even know about her feelings? Lydia had never told her that she had feelings for Stiles but Lydia was glad that Allison knew anyway. It proved to her once again why they were best friends. They just knew each other so well that they didn't need to talk to know what's going on with the other. 

"Nope, you're not on loudspeaker anymore", Lydia said, hoping Allison would get the message that Stiles hadn't heard the last part, which she obviously couldn't say out loud with Stiles sitting right next to her. 

"Damn it! This would have been the perfect opportunity! Think about it, Lydia, you know he likes you, so don't you think this road trip is the perfect opportunity to talk to him about it?" 

Lydia wanted to object and tell Allison that she was wrong, that Stiles was into Malia now and not her anymore. Tell her that that was the whole problem and that she would have already told him by now if he wasn't in a relationship with Malia or whatever it was they were doing. 

But she couldn't say any of that so she made a noise of disagreement. 

"Call me when you can and want to talk about it", Allison added. 

"I will, thanks!" Lydia replied. "And enjoy the movie with Scott", Lydia added smirking. 

After they had said their goodbye's Lydia turned to look at Stiles and for a second she was puzzled because of the tense expression on his face but then she remembered the last thing he had heard of the phone call.

"Did Stiles kiss you..." 

At first she thought that he was tense because of the topic but then it hit her. Allison had asked that question right after telling her that Lydia was acting weirdly, so Stiles probably thought that Allison meant it would be a bad thing if he had. Of course that's completely wrong, it's kind of the opposite actually, but Lydia knew Stiles well enough by now to know his way of thinking. 

"Stiles..." Lydia started, but Stiles interrupted her immediately. 

"You don't have to explain anything, Lydia!" he said, obviously upset but trying to hide it. 

Lydia didn't know what to say to that. He was with Malia so he shouldn't really care about how Lydia would feel if he kissed her. Maybe it was just his ego that was hurt by that thought because it could certainly not be his feelings. 

Lydia just kept quiet and the silence was completely uncomfortable. Minutes seemed like hours and even though neither of them liked fighting, they also didn't know how to resolve this since they weren't exactly fighting. 

They eventually ate their sandwiches and at around 8pm Stiles broke the silence and suggested they should find a motel to spend the night soon, because he was getting tired. Lydia immediately agreed, hoping the tension between them would be better after they had both gotten some sleep. 

Stiles took the next exit and they soon found a motel that looked nice and affordable at the same time. 

They parked the jeep, took the bags they had packed for the night in the motel and went to the reception, asking for a room. 

"Yes, we have several rooms available." the girl at the reception said, smiling at Stiles. "So, do you need one or two rooms?" she asked, smirking at Stiles. Lydia felt the jealousy boiling up in her, knowing what this kind of smirk was suggesting.

"One should do", Lydia replied sweetly but with a fake smile. 

They hadn't talked about the sleeping arrangements before because they had assumed they would figure it out at the motel, but since the atmosphere between them was still awkward, Stiles was glad that Lydia had just decided it. 

The receptionists’ smile fell a little, but she handed over the room key and told them where to go. Their room was on the top floor, room 24. 

Stiles took Lydia’s bag and carried it up the stairs for her even though it wasn't very heavy. 

They entered the room and the first thing Lydia noticed was the bed. There was only one queen sized bed in the middle of the room. The whole way up Lydia had been praying that there would be two beds but she had no such luck. This wouldn't exactly take any of the tension between them away. 

"I'll take the couch, don't worry", Stiles said when he noticed Lydia’s gaze on the bed. That's when Lydia saw the small sofa in the corner of the room. There was no way Stiles could fit on it; she doubted that she would have enough room on it, let alone Stiles.

"Stiles, that's crazy! You can't sleep on there, the couch is tiny!" Lydia argued. 

"Lydia, it's fine!" Stiles replied, his voice cold and upset, not bothering to hide it anymore. 

She didn't want to start an argument and if he insisted he was sleeping on the tiny couch, so be it. He was behaving kind of childish now, not speaking to her properly and not meeting her eyes. She was kind of fed up with him acting this way. 

They both got ready for bed and said a quick goodnight before Stiles switched of the light. 

Lydia wasn't tired. She hated going to bed angry. Her parents had always told her that it was unhealthy to go to bed without resolving your arguments first. But she knew she couldn't talk to Stiles now. He was really upset and it hurt her that she didn't even really know why. 

She thought about it some more and was soon beginning to feel tired. She couldn't believe what they had been through in this one day. It had been the definition of an emotional rollercoaster! First she had been excited about the trip, then she had been attacked. Afterwards she had a breakdown, followed by a lot of laughter, followed by an argument. 

She was so exhausted. And she had been so preoccupied with their fight that she had totally forgotten about the attack. But now that it was back in her mind, she couldn't stop thinking about it. 

She felt herself getting anxious again, even though she knew that her fear was completely irrational. She tried to calm herself down, but she felt her breathing getting faster and she felt the tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone was behind her, waiting for her to fall asleep so he could attack her. She could still feel the grip of the man's arms around her, holding her close to him and a few tears ran down her face.

She was careful not to be too loud so she wouldn't wake Stiles. She couldn't shake the fear and the feeling of the man's arms around her and the more she tried to calm herself the faster her breathing became. 

"Lydia..." Stiles suddenly whispered, sitting up. 

"I... I didn't mean to wake you, sorry” she muttered. 

Stiles didn't say anything else. He stood up, walked over to the bed and climbed into the bed while Lydia scooted over to make some room or him. They lay facing each other and Stiles wasn't sure if he was allowed to touch her. He reached out tentatively and gently brushed some stray tears from Lydia's face. 

That was all the invitation Lydia needed. She moved as close to Stiles as she could and buried her face in his chest. He instantly wrapped his arms around her back, holding her tightly while rubbing soft circles on her back. He couldn't help but place soft kisses to her head every once in a while. She was shaking slightly, but the longer she was in Stiles’ arms the calmer she got.

"I'm sorry, Stiles", Lydia said after a while. "I'm so sorry!" She wasn’t completely sure what she was apologising for exactly. For waking him up, for their fight or for what happened in the woods even though that hadn’t been her fault. But he seemed to understand it anyway.

"Shh... stop! You don't have to apologize to me, ever!" he replied quietly. 

They just stayed cuddled together until Stiles felt that Lydia had stopped shaking. 

"Let's try to get some sleep, okay?" Stiles suggested after quite some time had passed. 

"Okay", Lydia agreed. 

Stiles moved to get up but Lydia grabbed his arm before he could move too far away.

"Can you... would you mind sleeping here... with me?" Lydia asked in the most vulnerable voice Stiles had ever heard her use. 

"Of course!" he replied, placing another kiss on the top of her head. 

Lydia sighed in relief and Stiles couldn't help but smile to himself. Lydia turned around so that her back was now pressed to Stiles' chest and she felt him stiffen. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach carefully so that his arm was wrapped around her. 

She felt him relax slowly and a wave of tiredness hit her. 

"Stiles?" 

"Yeah?"

"Thank you!"

"Anytime", Stiles replied before they both drifted off to sleep and Lydia felt completely safe in his arms.


	5. Chapter 5

When Stiles woke up the next morning they were still in the exact same position, Lydia’s back pressed tightly to his chest with his arm around her. She was still asleep and the only change was that she was now holding onto his hand which she must have grabbed some time during the night. Stiles smiled to himself and even though every muscle in his body was stiff from sleeping in this unfamiliar position, he didn’t dare to move and decided to savour every second of Lydia being in his arms. 

After a while Lydia began to stir a little and let go of his hand. She whimpered quietly in her sleep, probably having a nightmare. Stiles gently stroked her hair and whispered to her to wake up. She woke up with a gasp and turned her head around quickly to see who is lying there, still shaken up from the dream. 

“Stiles…” she whispered relieved. She turned around fully and buried her face in his shirt while Stiles wrapped his arms around her again. He was relieved about her not freaking out about them lying in a bed together and especially this close to him. But then she seemed to wake up fully and realise what they were doing because she moved out of his arms and got up off the bed quickly. 

“I’m going to take a shower”, Lydia said blushing, gathered her things and disappeared into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her quickly and leaned against it. Being in Stiles’ arms she had realised that she had a huge problem. She knew that Stiles just wanted to be a good friend so he comforted her and did whatever she had needed. But she had never felt as safe as she had felt when she was in his arms and knowing what it felt like only made it harder to know that she didn’t really belong there. Malia did. 

Last night she had been so scared that she had just acted without really thinking and she was angry at herself for not being able to handle her fear by herself. She had needed the safety of knowing he was there to protect her but she knew that she couldn’t make a habit out of it. He was with Malia and as soon as they were back he would spend his time with Malia instead of her. She needed to deal with her new anxiety by herself.

After thinking about it some more while showering, she started her bathroom routine and then went back to Stiles. 

“Sorry I took so long”, Lydia said, nothing else coming to mind. The atmosphere was awkward again and she was getting sick of it. They used to be so easy and relaxed around each other and now there was all this unresolved tension between them. 

“We have plenty of time, it’s still early” Stiles replied while gathering some clothes and disappearing into the bathroom. 

When they were both ready to go they checked out at the reception and continued their drive. They hadn’t really talked, except for “are you ready?” and other necessary conversation. They were both uncomfortable so Lydia decided to just face the problem head on. 

“Why were you mad after the phone call with Allison?” Lydia blurted out before she could think about how to bring it up. 

Stiles was completely taken aback and his mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. He had expected this to be a horrible drive in silence because he knew they were both equally stubborn, but it seemed that curiosity had taken the better of Lydia. What should he even say to that? He himself didn’t even really know why he had reacted that way. Or maybe he did. 

The way Allison had asked “Did Stiles kiss you?” had felt like a punch in the stomach. It was the way she had said it, like it would be the worst thing that could ever happen. And the fact that Lydia had hurriedly turned off the loudspeaker only let him guess that the next thing Allison had said would have been even more hurtful. 

But why was he mad at Lydia? He couldn’t answer her question. Because Stiles was pretty sure that the truth would be “Because you don’t feel the same way about me as I feel about you” and he sure as hell was not going to tell her that. The tension between them was already bad enough, thank you very much. 

He knew that Lydia didn’t have any feelings for him just as much as she knew about his feelings for her. It was public knowledge after all, the whole school knew about it, even the teachers. So there wasn’t even a point in saying it or even bringing it up.

He had no idea how to answer Lydia’s question. There was silence for what felt like an eternity. 

“I don’t know…” was all Stiles could come up with. 

Lydia sighed exasperated. 

“Why did you get up so abruptly this morning?” he decided to turn this around and put her on the spot instead.

“Because I was embarrassed!” Lydia exclaimed instantly. “You know I’m not usually like that and I felt guilty because I don’t think that Malia would like to know that we slept in the same bed. She knows how you felt about me and I don’t think she would like us sleeping in the same bed! And it’s just so embarrassing! I should be able to handle it myself” Lydia said all in one breath. 

Stiles didn’t know what to say first. So much of what she had just said was wrong. And did she really use past tense when she talked about his feelings for her?

“Lydia, it’s not embarrassing to need some help every once in a while” Stiles started. “I actually think that it takes a really strong person to ask for help. Not many people can do that. And Lydia, you are my best friend. I don’t ever want you to feel like you can’t come to me for help. You know that, right?” 

“I do.” Lydia replied, smiling. 

They smiled at each other for a few seconds, before Stiles had to turn his gaze back on the road. And just like that, they both felt like everything was back to normal between them. Even though they hadn’t really talked about everything, it was enough for now and they silently agree on talking this all out another time. 

“Okay, I’m bored already and we have only been on the road for like 10 minutes”, Lydia complained. “We are playing 20 questions! You ready, Stilinski?” she asked with a smirk. 

“I don’t think anyone can ever be ready to play 20 questions with Lydia Martin”, Stiles replied and Lydia was happy that they really were back to normal.

“I’ll start. Don’t worry I will go easy on you… for now!” She thought for a while and then turned to look at Stiles. “Favourite knock-knock joke!” she exclaimed happily after a few seconds.

“That’s not easy!” Stiles pouted.

“You’re right, because there is no such thing as a funny knock-knock joke!” Lydia said laughing. 

“What?!?! No, that’s not the problem! It’s just that there are so many, I can’t choose my favourite!” Stiles argued. 

Lydia stared at him with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe that she had feelings for a guy who actually thought that knock-knock jokes were funny. 

“Okay, I got one! This is really funny! You ready? Knock Knock.” Stiles said, getting really excited. 

“Who’s there?” Lydia asked, smiling about how excited he got about this. 

“Cows go.”

“Cows go who?” Lydia answered, already knowing where this was going but she didn’t want to ruin this for him so she kept quiet.

“No silly! Cows go moo!” Stiles finished, a huge grin spreading across his face. Lydia couldn’t help but laugh, which lit up Stiles’ face some more. She was not laughing about the joke, although she had to admit that it was one of the better jokes. She was laughing at his excitement.

“Admit it, Lydia, this was funny!” Stiles said, looking at her as much as he could while driving.

“Yes Stiles, it was quite funny. Although I knew what you would say before I even asked “Cows go who?””, Lydia couldn’t help but add. That grin on his face had just gotten way too big and he was getting too confident for her liking. 

“No you didn’t!” Stiles argued. “Well, you probably did! You’re Lydia Martin after all…” Stiles backtracked pouting. 

“Oh, come on Stiles, don’t be such a baby! It’s your turn to ask a question now!” Lydia tried to cheer him up. 

“Okay, I will start with an easy question. And in contrast to you I am going to stick to my words.” Stiles replied while Lydia rolled her eyes at him. “Do you prefer the mountains or the beach?” he asked.

“That really is an easy question! The beach! 100% the beach. I do like hiking in the mountains and everything but nothing can top a day at the beach with our friends!” Lydia explained. 

“Yeah, me too”, Stiles agreed. 

A couple of questions later, they realised they hadn’t had any breakfast and stopped to get some food and then went straight back to their questions. It was Stiles’ turn to ask his seventh question already and they had decided to ask twenty questions in total, so ten questions each. 

“If you had to be named after a city, state or country, which would you want it to be?” Stiles asked. He had read that question in a magazine once and he had actually kind of liked it.

“It’s funny that you ask, because I would actually like to be called Holland. My mother told me that my parents had thought about naming me Holland and ever since then I kind of like the idea. I’ve always liked unusual names so yeah... But I also like Ireland. ” Lydia replied blushing a little. She didn’t know why but this felt kind of personal to her but she felt entirely comfortable telling Stiles this.

“Those are nice names!” Stiles said, smiling at her. 

“Okay, my turn. What was the last picture you took with your phone?” Lydia asked the first question that had popped into her head to change the topic. 

“Honestly, I have no idea!” Stiles said, still thinking about it. “You can look and find out if you want to. My cell is on the backseat, you can just grab it.” 

Lydia grabbed the phone and unlocked it. They knew each other’s codes since they all trusted each other. There was a message from Scott which she read automatically since it was popping up. It read “Did you tell her yet?” Lydia couldn’t help but wonder if she was the one that Scott was referring to in the text. 

“Scott asks if you already told her?” Lydia told Stiles casually.

Stiles mouth dropped open for a second and Lydia felt a little uncomfortable. 

“I didn’t go through your messages if that’s what you’re thinking… The message just popped up on the screen…” Lydia tried to explain.

“Yeah, no, I didn’t think you had.” Stiles said quickly. 

“Do you know what he is talking about?” Lydia asked, studying Stiles’ face carefully to get a hint as to why he was acting weird again. 

“Um, yes, he just wants to know if I told Malia about the movie night we are all going to have when we get back. You remember?” he answered and Lydia knew he was lying but she decided not to say anything. She really couldn’t handle any more awkwardness between them now. They were finally able to talk normally and she had no intention of ruining that. 

“So, let’s see what your last picture is”, Lydia said, quickly changing the topic. Stiles relaxed visibly and Lydia promised herself to get to the bottom of this. 

She opened the camera on Stiles’ phone and snapped a picture of him without him noticing. She looked at it for a second, noticing that his jaw was still a little tense, before swiping to the left to see the picture that was last taken before. Her stomach dropped when Malia and Stiles smiled back at her from the screen. They were sitting on the sofa in Stiles living room, Malia basically on Stiles’ lap, leaning into his chest. Stiles’ right arm was stretched out to take a selfie of them and his left arm was wrapped around Malia’s waist holding her in place. 

“So what is it?” Stiles asked when Lydia didn’t say anything. 

“It’s a picture of you and Malia”, Lydia said with a fake smile plastered on her face. “It’s a nice picture of you two” she added, not knowing what else to say.

“Oh, I will look at it later since I have to keep my eyes on the road”, he said awkwardly. 

“Alright”, Lydia answered. She took one last look at the picture and tried to get rid of the jealousy she felt ever since she had opened the picture. She imagined what it would be like to take pictures like that with Stiles. She finally closed the picture and put his phone back. 

“Three more questions each.” Lydia noticed and they continued their game. The game lasted for about another hour and then it was Lydia’s turn to ask her last question. 

“It’s the last question Lydia, so make it a good one!” Stiles said smirking. 

Lydia thought really hard for a moment. She really wanted to make the last one a great question and then a question popped into her head. She fought with herself for a while. She didn’t know if she should really ask that particular question, but she really wanted to know so she decided it was now or never. 

“When was the last time you told a lie?” Lydia finally asked. She already knew the answer. She was certain that he had lied to her about Scott’s text and she really wanted to know what was going on. 

“That’s actually a really good question” Stiles admitted approvingly. He thought about it for a few seconds and Lydia saw the exact moment it dawned on Stiles that it had been just about an hour ago and that Lydia had been the one he had lied to. He looked over at her and she met his gaze. 

“Why do you ask me a question you already know the answer to?” Stiles asked annoyed. 

“Stiles don’t be like that! Just answer the question!” Lydia replied. She was getting angry. Partly at herself for asking the question but also at Stiles for the way he was acting again. After all, he had been the one who had lied, not Lydia.

“The last time I lied was earlier when you asked me about the text from Scott! Happy now?” Stiles answered, his voice getting louder with each word. 

“Why are you shouting at me? You lied to me, Stiles and not the other way around! So if anyone has the right to be yelling right now, I think it’s me!” Lydia replied, raising her voice as well to match Stiles’. 

“Lydia, I don’t want to tell you, at least not right now!” Stiles admitted after taking a few deep breaths and calming himself down. He didn’t know why he had reacted like this. But he didn’t want to tell her like this. He was waiting for the right moment and this was certainly not it. 

“Then why didn’t you just say that, Stiles? And why did you get so angry?” Lydia asked quietly. 

“I just got nervous I guess. I promise I will tell you, but you have to give me some time, ok?” Stiles said, his eyes pleading with her not to push him anymore. 

Lydia nodded her head and that’s when it dawned on her. So the text really was about him telling her something and not Malia. She was just about to ask him but then she thought better of it and kept quiet. 

“You have one more question left”, Lydia reminded Stiles to change he topic once again. 

“Right! My last question is: Can I turn the radio back on?” Stiles said laughing, not daring to ask a serious question now. 

Lydia laughed and turned the radio on. None of the stations were working so Lydia was just about to turn it off again when they heard a long beep. 

“This is a message of the national weather service. This is a warning for northern California and southern Oregon.” 

Lydia and Stiles looked at each other and Lydia turned up the volume. Apparently there was a tornado warning and everyone that was in the area was asked to seek shelter indoors as soon as possible. 

“It’s so weird, the weather looks nice here and there is tornado warning?” Lydia said, looking over at Stiles.

“Well, you know how quickly the weather can change here, so we should better find a motel quickly before all the rooms are gone.” Stiles suggested. 

Originally they had planned to make it a two day trip but with all the delays on the first day they had already known that they would have to spend another night. They agreed to take the next exit and look for a motel and that’s when Lydia realised that they were almost alone on the road. They had probably missed all the other warnings before because the radio had been turned off. 

They left the highway and started to look for a motel. All the motels they came across had already put up signs saying that they were full. 

“That’s impossible! There has to be some place where we can stay!” Lydia sighed frustrated. 

“There was this one hotel where they seemed to have rooms available. We could go back and see if they still do” Stiles suggested.

“Did you even look at it? The rooms are probably 200$ a night! Of course they still have rooms available!” Lydia replied. 

“My dad gave me some emergency money and I think this really qualifies as an emergency! We are going back there, and no arguing!” he added when he saw Lydia open her mouth to protest. 

“Fine” she finally said.


	6. Chapter 6

The hotel looked even more expensive than they had first thought. Stiles pulled into the parking lot and followed the signs of a man who was waving for him to drive right to the entrance. Lydia looked around and noticed all the expensive cars that were parked there. 

Stiles stopped the car right in front of the entrance and got out of the car. Just as Lydia was about to open her door, a young man opened the door for her and helped her out of the jeep. Stiles handed his car keys to another man who instructed someone to get the luggage and then got into the car and disappeared with it. Stiles was really hoping that he was just parking the car and not stealing it. But one glance at all the expensive cars that we parked in front of the hotel told Stiles that he didn’t need to worry about his jeep. 

The two were lead into the lobby and after talking to the receptionist they were escorted to their room. 

“Your luggage will be up shortly”, the man said politely before leaving. 

“I should have tipped him, shouldn’t I?” Stiles asked Lydia, rubbing the back of his neck. It was obvious to Lydia that he was uncomfortable in this expensive hotel. And the hotel room was just as breath taking as the rest of the hotel. 

“And this is the least expensive room that they have here?” Stiles asked in awe. 

There was a knock on the door and Stiles went to open the door. 

“Your luggage, sir.” Stiles didn’t know if he should be more surprised about the fact that the guy had called him sir or the fact that he was in a hotel where they brought your luggage up to your room and parked your car for you. 

“Thanks!” Stiles said, making room so the guy could bring the luggage into the room. When the man turned around and started walking out the door Stiles suddenly remembered something. 

“Hold on”, he called after him. He took out his wallet and handed the man a 10 dollar bill. He smiled politely and thanked Stiles before walking out. 

“Did you just give him your last 10 dollars for bringing our luggage up?” Lydia asked smirking. 

“I sure did” Stiles replied, realising what he had just done. 

Lydia couldn’t hold back her laugh and Stiles soon joined in. “Don’t worry, I still have to pay you back half for the room, so you’ll be fine” Lydia said. 

“Oh no you’re not! I decided that we would go here so I will pay for it.” Stiles insisted. 

“Or your dad’s emergency money…” Lydia mumbled with a smirk, just loud enough so Stiles would hear it. 

Stiles’ eyes widened and then he said “Oh no you didn’t!” before walking over to Lydia slowly. She stayed in her place and just when Stiles was about to tackle her onto the bed, she stepped to the side and he fell onto the bed, face first. 

Lydia couldn’t contain her laughter and let herself drop onto the sofa. Stiles sat up on the bed grinning from ear to ear. 

“Not bad, Martin, not bad. But don’t think this is over. I will get back at you when you least expect me to!” Stiles said smirking. 

“Bring it on” Lydia replied chuckling. 

Since it was only 3pm they decided to check out what the hotel had to offer. After sitting in the jeep for two days they both wanted to do something that had to do with sports. Lydia found a flyer lying on the table, listing all the possible activities. Since there was a tornado warning, anything that was outdoors wasn’t an option. Luckily, the hotel had to offer all kinds of different things. There was a huge swimming pool, a miniature golf course, a climbing wall, a cinema, a gym with lots of different courses. 

“I wish we could go swimming! This looks awesome!” Stiles exclaimed, pointing to a picture in the brochure. “Look at these slides!” 

“Yes! That looks like so much fun!” Lydia agreed. “I have a bikini in my suitcase, actually.” Lydia said. 

“I didn’t bring any swimming trunks though…” Stiles said, pouting. 

“I saw a shop downstairs, maybe they have some there!” Lydia suggested and Stiles’ face lit up. He really wanted to check out the swimming pool. 

Half an hour later they had changed their clothes and went to the swimming pool. They both stopped right after they had entered the room. It was huge! It was more like a waterpark than a swimming pool. They could see at least 5 different slides from where they were standing, a massive swimming pool in the middle of it and a smaller pool for children. 

But the best thing was that they were the only two people there. They looked at each other and couldn’t believe their luck. This was worth every penny they had paid for the room. Lydia took off her bathrobe and Stiles had a hard time breathing for a few seconds. He had seen her in a bikini before, even completely naked after she had been wandering through the woods, but she still took his breath away. He tried his best not to stare at her and took his bathrobe off as well. 

“What do you want to try first?” he asked while he turned back around to Lydia after hanging up his bathrobe, just in time to catch her staring at him. Had she been checking him out? Stiles smirked and Lydia blushed. She couldn’t believe that she had let him catch her staring at him. 

“I want to start with the slides!” Lydia said, ignoring the smug smile on Stiles’ face. She started walking towards the slides and Stiles followed her. They made their way along the huge swimming pool and just as Lydia was about to turn around to ask Stiles which slide he wanted to try first she felt his hands on her waist. She grabbed his hands the second she realised what was happening. Stiles tried to push her into the swimming pool but with Lydia holding onto his hands they both fell in together. 

They surfaced from under the water at the same time and Lydia splashed Stiles with some water. 

“Was that supposed to be the payback for earlier today?” Lydia asked laughing. 

“I clearly underestimated you!” Stiles admitted. “I will try harder next time.” He promised and Lydia only splashed him again, before swimming away to prevent him splashing some water at her. He followed her and they tried all of the slides. After two hours of running up the stairs and going down the slides they were both exhausted. 

“I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun”, Lydia admitted when they had decided to take a break and were relaxing. In one corner of the big swimming pool there was a whirlpool built in that was connected to the swimming pool. 

“Me neither!” Stiles answered. 

After lying in the whirlpool in silence for a while Lydia got up and started swimming some lanes in the pool. Stiles watched her for a bit and then he joined her in the swimming pool, waiting for her at the shallow end. 

When she noticed him standing there she stopped swimming and was just about to ask what he was doing when he splashed a huge amount of water right into her face. 

“You don’t know what you have just gotten yourself into, Stilinski!” she told him with a menacing grin on her face. 

Stiles smirked back and just splashed her with water again. And this time Lydia splashed him back in return. Stiles disappeared under water and Lydia thought he was just trying to avoid her splashes. But then he resurfaced right behind her and pushed her under the water by her shoulders. She screamed before the water silenced her. Stiles let her get back up so she could get some air before pushing her under the water once again. Lydia tried to wriggle out of his grasp but he started to tickle her under the water. They continued their underwater fight for about half an hour until Lydia was exhausted. 

“Okay, you win!” Lydia gasped when they were coming up for air. Fighting under water had really worn her out and she put up her hands in surrender. 

“You give up?” Stiles asked grinning. He was standing a good distance away from her, eying her carefully to see if she was pretending to or actually surrendering. He was totally prepared for her splash him with water any second but Lydia had no intention of doing that. She was completely exhausted from holding her breath and laughing so much. 

She dropped her hands slowly while looking into his eyes and she saw something changing in them. The smirk from earlier was gone and Lydia didn’t know what to do. He started moving towards her slowly and she felt butterflies taking residence in her stomach. She wanted to let this situation play out, but she was also scared of what Stiles was going to do. She felt hope rising in her chest but she wasn’t exactly sure what she was hoping for.

The butterflies in Lydia’s stomach were all hoping for Stiles to kiss her, but Lydia’s head was trying to talk them out of it. She felt like there was an inner fight between her feelings and her mind and it made it impossible for her to move. She still wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about Stiles. Even though she had to admit that she was obviously attracted to him, she wasn’t sure if what Allison had said is true. Was she really in love with him?

The butterflies in her stomach were practically screaming yes but her mind kept arguing against it. Stiles was her best friend and she was scared that her feelings for him were going to tear them apart, especially now that he was with Malia. And apart from that it just wasn’t fair to him if she wasn’t sure about her own feelings.

But now Stiles was only a few inches away from her, still coming closer. She still hadn’t made up her mind, but her body reacted to being this close to him and wouldn’t let her move even if she wanted to. When he was only an arm’s length away he reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face and she shivered at his touch. 

She was frozen in place and the butterflies in her stomach were multiplying by the second. Stiles’ hand gently stroked across her cheek now, and she got lost in the way she felt from his touch. He leaned in closer and his other hand came up to her face as well. Lydia closed her eyes and without her getting lost in the look on his face, she was finally able to form a clear thought. 

“Stiles…” Lydia whispered. “What are you doing?” she asked, closing her eyes. She knew that this was wrong but she didn’t want to move. She wanted to be selfish and let Stiles kiss her but she couldn’t get the thought of Malia out of her head. Even though there was only a tiny part of her conscience that was capable to think at all, it was enough to question the whole situation.

“I want to kiss you” Stiles whispered back. Lydia almost melted and wondered briefly where he got the confidence from all of a sudden and when she opened her eyes again his face was directly in front of hers. He must have seen the inner fight in her eyes and just stayed still. His thumb was still stroking across her jaw gently and Lydia was about to cave and just kiss him. But she couldn’t, not when he was with Malia. 

“I can’t”, Lydia said, gently removing his hands from her cheeks with her own. She turned around and quickly swam to the ladder closest to her, getting out of the water as fast as she could. Tears started running down her cheeks as she ran from the pool and back to their room. She could feel his gaze on her but she didn’t turn around. She didn’t want to see the hurt that she was sure was showing in his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! I would love for you to comment! :)

Fortunately she remembered to grab her bathrobe with the key card to their room in it. When she got there, she locked herself in the bathroom in case Stiles was coming to the room as well. And since he had nowhere else to go she was pretty sure he would be there soon. But she couldn’t face him, not after what had just happened. What had he been thinking? Why did he try to kiss her when he was with Malia? Lydia sat in the bathroom, crying, and when she heard the door to their room open and close again she stepped into the shower. 

She stayed in the shower for a long time but she knew she had to face Stiles eventually, so she decided that now was as good a time as any. She opened the door quietly and saw Stiles sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. She couldn’t help but feel a little guilty when she saw him like that. Even though it was his fault since he had been the one trying to initiate the kiss. 

He looked up at her when he heard her come in and stood up. Lydia was still standing in the doorframe, leaning against the closed bathroom door and neither of them knew what to do. Everything in Stiles screamed to just go over to her and kiss her. He felt so guilty. But he had really thought that Lydia might have feelings for him. 

First of all, there was the moment in the car after the attack. He was sure that Lydia had been just about to kiss him before she had gotten out of the car abruptly. And then there was the fact that she had wanted him to sleep in the bed with her. And the way she had been getting as close to him as she could and cried in his arms. But maybe she had just needed someone to comfort her and since he had been the only one around… He had gotten his hopes up for no reason once again… 

“I’m sorry.” Stiles said after a moment of silence. “I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you” he added to clarify. 

“Why did you?” Lydia asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She didn’t mean to ask the question, it had just come out. But now that it was out there she realised that she really wanted to know the answer. 

For the past weeks Malia had been all Stiles had talked to her about and now he had apparently completely forgotten about her. That was the only scenario Lydia could come up with. But Stiles wasn’t the type to cheat on someone and Lydia couldn’t wrap her head around it. 

“What do you mean? Isn’t it obvious?” Stiles asked, genuinely confused by her question. Was she serious? Everyone knew that he was in love with Lydia since the third grade and she was asking him why he had tried to kiss her? 

“I mean just that, Stiles! Why did you try to kiss me?” Lydia raised her voice and let out all the frustration she felt about the situation. What didn’t he get? She just wanted to know why the hell he had wanted to kiss her when he was in a relationship!

“Well, there is usually only one reason why a person tries to kiss another person!” Stiles replied equally frustrated and loud. Did she need him to spell it out for her?

“But obviously this is not the case here since you are with Malia, Stiles. And the last time I checked it wasn’t okay to kiss someone else while being in a relationship!” 

“I broke up with Malia!” Stiles shouted and Lydia’s eyes widened. Okay, that definitely wasn’t the way he had wanted to tell her but it was too late now. For the last two days he had been trying to find the right moment to tell her, but he knew Lydia well enough to know that she would have asked him why he broke up with her. And he hadn’t been ready to tell her, he still wasn’t. Especially now that he knew he was wrong.

“W-What?” she asked quietly.

“I’m not in a relationship with Malia and I never really was. I broke up with her before it had even really begun” Stiles replied much quieter. 

“I don’t understand. You were constantly telling me about how great she was and that she had finally kissed you and … she was all you ever talked and thought about” Lydia mumbled quietly.

“No, Lydia, all I ever think about is you!” Stiles said forcefully, his eyes boring into hers from across the room. Lydia’s eyes widened. Even after he had tried to kiss her she hadn’t even considered that he might still have feelings for her. She had been so focused on the fact that Stiles was into Malia now, that the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. 

Stiles was still standing next to the bed, not daring to move closer to Lydia. He had thought that Lydia might have feelings for him too, but he wasn’t so sure anymore after she left the swimming pool. But he had to get it all out in the open now. It was now or never.

“Do you want to know why I broke up with Malia? Because of you! You were acting really weird since I had gotten closer to Malia and so after a while I thought that maybe that was the reason why you were acting strange. And then when you left the cafeteria and I found you crying in the library I thought that maybe I was right, that maybe you did have feelings for me. And that’s when I noticed that I couldn’t be with Malia while I was still in love with you. It wasn’t fair to her, she deserves better. So I broke up with her.” 

“Oh”, Lydia replied. She inwardly rolled her eyes at herself but it was the only word that would come out of her mouth. Had he really just said that he is in love with her?

“So… am I right?” Stiles asked, getting bolder again. 

“About what?” Lydia asked quietly. 

“About thinking that you might have feelings for me…” Stiles said after a moment of hesitation.

Lydia was quiet for a moment. This was it. She could lie to him and tell him that he was wrong and it would probably be awkward between them for a little while but they would eventually go back to normal. Or she could tell him the truth, that she did have feelings for him and risk their friendship over it. Because there was no guaranty that it would work out between them. But when she looked into his eyes, her mind was made up. He was worth it.

“Maybe…” Lydia whispered, looking at him with fear and anticipation in her eyes. 

Stiles didn’t need to hear more. This single word that was barely even audible made up Stiles’ mind. He went up to Lydia quickly and pressed his lips to hers gently and Lydia immediately responded. The butterflies in Lydia’s stomach went crazy as one of Stiles’ hands came up to cradle her face while he wrapped his other arm around her waist. Lydia’s hands rested on his chest and Stiles couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He was kissing Lydia Martin. Finally, after almost 10 years of waiting she liked him back. 

When Stiles pulled back to catch his breath, he just stared at her. Lydia could see all of his feelings for her in his eyes and she blushed. She had been kissed before, but never before has she felt like this afterwards. 

“What?” she asked when he didn’t say anything but only stared at her. 

“Sorry, I just… I can’t believe I just kissed Lydia Martin”, Stiles said, moving a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Well… would you like to do it again?” Lydia asked innocently after blushing even more. 

Stiles didn’t need to be asked twice and kissed her again. And this was how they spent the majority of their evening. They eventually started watching a movie on TV but neither of them had a clue about what was going on in the movie. Every time they decided to pay attention, one of them would eventually steal a kiss from the other and they missed another five minutes before realising it. But neither of them seemed to mind.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another one :) There will be two more chapters after this and an Epilog. Please comment :)

When Lydia woke up the next morning a smile spread across her face the second she noticed Stiles’ arms around her and the memories of the day before flooded her mind. He was lying right behind her and she stayed completely still, not wanting to wake him up. She thought she could stay like this forever and she revelled in the fact that he held her tightly to him even in his sleep. Only a few minutes passed until Lydia felt him stir. 

Even though everything had been perfect the day before she was a little nervous about how they would be acting around each other now. They had spent the rest of the evening pretending to watch movies and when Lydia fell asleep at some point, he had turned off the TV and lay down next to her on the bed. Half asleep, she had scooted closer to him until her back had been pressed against his chest and the second she had felt his arm around her waist she was sound asleep. 

Her nerves disappeared the second she felt Stiles shifting and pressing soft kisses on the top of her head. 

“Morning”, he whispered into her hair and Lydia felt the butterflies waking up in her stomach again. 

She would never get used to the way he could make her feel by only saying something as simple as good morning, not that she wanted to. She turned herself around so that she was facing him and pressed a kiss to his cheek in response. 

Stiles captured her lips with his and Lydia felt him smile against her lips. 

“What are you smiling at?” Lydia asked after pulling away, trying not to let out the grin that was starting to spread across her face. 

“I just realised that I can kiss you whenever I want now”, Stiles replied. 

“Is that so?” Lydia asked, raising her eyebrows teasingly. 

“Yep!” Stiles stated matter-of-factly. He leaned back in but just before their lips touched, Lydia pulled away. 

“Well, I think I do have a say in that too, you know?” 

“I guess that’s true… But can you please shut up now so I can kiss you again?” Stiles said with a grin on his face. 

Lydia debated about whether she should keep arguing with him, especially after he had just told her to shut up! But then she noticed the dimples on his cheeks and she decided that she could still finish this “argument” later. 

Before she had even made up her mind completely Stiles had already captured her lips with his again and she melted into his kiss. Lydia couldn’t believe why and how she had fought against her feelings for him for so long. She had never felt this way with anyone before, not with Jackson or Aiden or Parrish. And even though she felt entirely safe in his arms she couldn’t help but wonder a little about his feelings. 

She couldn’t deny that he was in love with her but a little voice in her head wouldn’t shut up about Malia. But she decided to ignore it. After all, he had broken up with Malia when he thought that Lydia might have feeling for him, so she really shouldn’t worry. Maybe she just needed to get used to Stiles’ way of relationship. The only real relationship she had been in had been with Jackson and she knew that had been far from a healthy relationship. He hadn’t treated her right and she knew that Stiles would. 

He would never lie to her or cheat on her or do anything that could hurt her and it felt good to know that. She felt safe with him and eventually she would get that little voice that kept putting Malia back in her head to be quiet. 

“I think we should get going soon”, Stiles told her in between kisses. Lydia made a noise of disagreement and Stiles chuckled lightly. 

“Come on, don’t you look forward to seeing Sophia and Jamie today?” he asked, knowing that this was going to get her to move. 

“Can we make it there today?” Lydia asked eyes wide with surprise. “I thought we would have to spend another night somewhere with all the delays we’ve had…”

“We woke up early, it’s only 8am now so if we drove the whole day without any more interruptions we should be able to make it today.”

Lydia jumped off the bed and immediately started to get ready while Stiles made his way to the bathroom to take a shower. When they were ready, they checked out of the hotel quickly and made themselves comfortable in the jeep. They drove back onto the highway, both lost in their thoughts about the day before. 

“Would you mind if I put the radio on?” Lydia asked after a while. 

“No, go ahead. I even let you choose the station” Stiles replied, smiling at her. 

While trying to find a radio station, they noticed that it was now 9am sharp and all the stations were reading the news, so Lydia just put on a random station. 

The storm that hit Northern California and Southern Oregon last night has been one of the worst but shortest storms this year. We, and especially the residents, are glad that it passed so quickly, but they were pretty terrified when their houses started shaking because of the strong winds last night. Let’s hope that the weather will stay like it is right now, sunny and cloudless.

“Oh my god! The storm! I had completely forgotten about that! I didn’t even hear it last night, did you?” Stiles noticed shocked. 

“No, I was kind of busy with laughing, crying and kissing…” Lydia smirked. 

The two continued their drive and only stopped when it was absolutely necessary. When they stopped at a rest stop because Lydia needed to use the toilet, Stiles didn’t leave her side once. Because even though she hadn’t said a word he knew that she was still pretty shaken up about the incident in the woods, which wasn’t surprising, since it had only happened two days ago. But with all that has happened since then it seems a lot longer ago. 

They bought some food to eat in the car so they wouldn’t lose any more time. Lydia called her cousins and told them that they would be there around 8pm if everything went according to plan. 

“So, do you want to meet my cousins or do you have to drive to Seattle straight away after dropping me of?” Lydia asked trying to sound casual. She couldn’t really explain it but it felt kind of intimate to ask him to meet her cousins and she was nervous about his answer. 

“Lydia, I would love to meet your cousins!” Stiles beamed at her and a smile spread across her face immediately. 

“Great! Sophia offered that you could spend the night if you want to, since it will be quite late when we arrive. And you have been driving the whole day so I think it would be better if you didn’t drive any longer than you really have to. But I would totally understand if you wanted to get to your grandparents today, since we are already a day later than we had planned. It’s completely up to you though, so…” 

“Stop rambling, Lydia, I thought that was my part in this relationship”, Stiles interrupted her and she blushed, even more when he said relationship. They hadn’t talked about it, but she was glad that they seemed to have assumed the same thing. After darting around each other and being friends for that long neither of them had felt the need to say it out loud but they both just knew that this was the beginning of a relationship. 

“Lydia, I would love to stay with you and get to know your cousins. I can just leave the next morning, my grandparents won’t mind”, he added.

“That’s great, I’m not ready to say goodbye to you”, Lydia admitted quietly. 

“Neither am I”, he replied, taking her hand in his. 

They kept holding hands for the rest of the drive, only letting go to shift gears. 

After about 10 hours of driving with the occasional stop for fuel or food they finally arrived in Portland. Sophia and Jamie were already waiting for them in front of their apartment because Lydia had called them earlier to ask for the exact address.

The moment she saw her cousins, Lydia jumped out of the car and ran towards them. She threw her arms around them and they hugged her back with the same enthusiasm immediately. Meanwhile Stiles had gotten out of the car and smiled to himself. 

He loved seeing Lydia that happy and he was glad that he had helped their reunion by driving her here. After a few moments Jamie looked up and saw Stiles standing there awkwardly. She let go of Lydia and walked over to Stiles to say hello. 

Stiles was thankful because he had begun to feel awkward. Lydia and Sophia let go of each other too to join Jamie and Stiles. 

"So you must be Stiles then!" Jamie stated rather than asked. 

"That's me", he answered, smiling.

"Well, we've heard a lot about you!" Sophia said while walking towards him.

"I hope you've only heard good things about me! But coming from Lydia it probably wasn't all that positive…", Stiles joked, earning a playful punch in the arm from Lydia. 

"I always tell the truth so if I have told you anything bad well that's just how he is", Lydia answered playfully and Stiles noticed that he really liked this side of Lydia.

Even though they had just arrived he could already see how different Lydia was around her family than she was at school or even around him, even though she has not seen her cousins for a very long time. He's sure that she is herself with him too, but she is even more relaxed and casual around her cousins. He assumed it was because she was close to them when she was a kid, so this part of her was more prominent in their presence. 

They went inside and ate the pasta that Sophia and Jamie had cooked knowing that Stiles and Lydia would probably be quite hungry. Stiles felt really comfortable with them even though he had worried about intruding on their time together before. He had even considered turning down Lydia's offer to spend the night at her cousins, because he was afraid that it would be awkward. But who was he kidding, he could never say no to Lydia.

He didn't know if Lydia had told them that they were together now. She had been talking on the phone while he had put some fuel in the car so he hadn't heard the conversation. But he didn't really care since Lydia was still quite affectionate towards him even though she hadn't kissed him since they arrived.

When they had finished eating and cleaning the kitchen together, Sophia suggested that they could play a game of taboo if they weren't too tired. Stiles loved playing games like this but he let Lydia answer the question in case she was tired. 

Lydia loved the fact that Stiles was always thoughtful of her. Even when he wasn't really doing anything she could tell that he was always thinking about her well-being first. She wasn't sure he knew that she noticed that he was always letting her answer questions to make sure she was comfortable but it made the butterflies fly in her stomach. 

There were several moments where she had just wanted to kiss him. Like right then, when he had let her decide if they wanted to play taboo even though she could tell that he was really excited about it. The only thing keeping her from kissing him was the fact that she didn't know if he would be comfortable to kiss her in front of her cousins. 

Lydia had obviously told Sophia about kissing Stiles right at the beginning of the phone call. She had been wanting to tell her all day but she had wanted to make sure that Stiles didn't hear so she had waited until she had been alone in the car. And just like she had thought Sophia was thrilled. Jamie and Sophia had both rooted for Stiles and Lydia since the second Lydia had told them all about their situation.

They had even come up with a couple-name for them. Apparently Sophia and Jamie had talked about Lydia and Stiles a lot and when they were getting tired of always saying Stiles and Lydia they came up with the idea of Stydia. And Lydia had to admit that she actually really liked that name. 

They all went into the living room and sat down on the couches. Since it was easier to play taboo when the team members knew each other, it was obvious that Sophia and Jamie would be playing against Stiles and Lydia. 

Lydia was very competitive and Stiles did his best to meet her expectations. They won after only 30 minutes because they knew each other so well, that they could almost explain anything through something they have experienced together. 

"Wow, that was impressive!" Jamie complimented them. "You two really know each other well! I mean, Sophia and I are twins and we don't even know as much about each other as you do!" 

"Thanks", Lydia replied, blushing. "I guess we have really spent a lot of time together these past years". 

Stiles nodded and smiled at Lydia. He wanted to kiss her so badly but he had the feeling that she wouldn't feel comfortable if he kissed her in front of her cousins so he tried to hold himself back. But it was getting harder every second. Now that he was finally allowed to kiss her, he had a hard time not to do it all the time. 

"That was a lot of fun, but I'm assuming that you are both tired, especially you Stiles after driving the whole day", Sophia said after a bit of small talk. 

Lydia was really thankful for that. She was tired, but she wanted this evening to end for an entirely different reason. The whole time when they had been playing taboo Lydia’s urge to kiss Stiles had grown and she wasn't sure how much longer she could contain it but she didn't want Stiles to feel uncomfortable. 

After the game she had felt his eyes on her a lot and that really didn't help her situation. 

"Yes!" Lydia exclaimed instantly, blushing when she noticed that she sounded a little too eager. "I'm really tired" she added, trying to cover it up. But the smirks from the others told her that no one was really buying it. 

They said goodnight to Sophia and Jamie showed them the guest room. Lydia would never understand how two freshmen could afford this apartment with a living room, two bedrooms and a guestroom but she was really grateful for it right now. 

When Jamie left, Stiles followed her to get their bags from the living room and Lydia stood in the middle of the room, still thinking about how lucky her cousins were to be living here. 

When she heard Stiles coming back with their bags she turned around just in time to see him close the door and suddenly he was in front of her, pressing his lips to hers instantly. Lydia was surprised but immediately reciprocated.

After a few minutes Stiles pulled away, but kept his hands on her cheeks. 

"I've been wanting to do that for hours!" Stiles exclaimed and Lydia nodded in agreement.

"Me too!" She admitted. "But I didn't want to make you uncomfortable in front of my cousins so I didn't" she added. 

"Exactly my train of thought" Stiles replied smiling.

"Well, great minds do think alike" Lydia joked before kissing him again. 

Eventually they decided to get ready for bed and when Lydia got back from the bathroom Stiles was already sound asleep with a small smile still on his face. Lydia could still hear sounds from her cousins’ rooms and went to Jamie’s room. Even though she loved having Stiles there with her, it wasn’t the same as being alone with her cousins and she wanted to take the opportunity to talk to them while Stiles was asleep. 

Especially after telling them all about her situation with Stiles prior to the trip she couldn’t wait to tell them everything that had happened. She had just told Sophia about it on the phone briefly but couldn’t get into detail. 

Lydia knocked on Jamie’s door quietly and opened the door. Both her cousins were sitting on Jamie’s bed, smiling brightly at her. 

“Hey, where did you leave Stiles?” Sophia asked teasingly. 

“He is already asleep…” Lydia answered blushing.

“Perfect! Now you can finally tell us everything!” Jamie exclaimed excitedly. She had been waiting to hear about it for the whole evening and she was glad she wouldn’t have to wait until Stiles left the next morning. 

Lydia laughed out loud and quickly covered her mouth, not wanting to wake Stiles. 

“Who said I was going to tell you everything?” Lydia smirked. 

“Well, first of all we deserve to know everything because we had to listen to you whine about Stiles and this Malia girl for WEEKS. And I think I deserve it even more for ending the evening when I did. I thought you were going to jump him any second.” Sophia laughed. 

“Yeah, it was close”, Lydia answered with a smirk. She then started to tell them everything that happened on the trip, only leaving out the attack. They were all in such a great mood and she didn’t want to ruin that. Sophia and Jamie listened intently, squealed and rolled their eyes at the right times and they were all happy they could finally have this girl-talk face to face. 

“We are so happy for you Lydia!” Jamie said when Lydia had finished filling them in.

“Thanks, me too!” Lydia grinned, looking down at her hands shyly. “But I’m also a little scared… I mean, a few days ago he was almost in a relationship with Malia and now I’m just supposed to believe that those feelings are completely gone? But when he looks at me I just forget about her and I see all of these emotions in his eyes and I don’t know, I want to be near him like all the time and I get all those butterflies and …” Lydia rambled, blushing more with each word. 

“Awww, Lydia, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush this much.” Jamie said. 

“And you know Lydia, the feeling you have described is called being in love”, Sophia added. 

Lydia rolled her eyes at her cousins but the second Sophia said “Being in love” Lydia’s eyes landed back on her and her mouth fell open. She gaped at her while she was thinking about it. Was she really in love with him? She had only just realised her feelings for him a few weeks ago, so could she really be in love with him already? The only thing she knew for sure now was that she had never really been in love before. She wasn’t even sure if she was in love with Stiles but she already felt so much more for him than she had ever felt for Jackson.

“I’m not sure…”, Lydia admitted quietly. 

“Well, we do! Lydia, I have honestly never seen you smile this much, or blush and you’re so relaxed and just yourself around him. And he is the same way around you, so don’t worry about Malia!” Jamie said. 

“You really have nothing to worry about! Have you seen the way he looks at you? Well, clearly you haven’t because otherwise you wouldn’t be having any doubts about his feelings.” Sophia added smiling warmly. 

Lydia smiled thankfully at her cousins and she was truly grateful that they were trying to overcome her doubts but she still wasn’t entirely convinced. They were her cousins after all, it was more or less their job to make her feel better when she was sad so she couldn’t be sure if it was true what they were saying. She didn’t think they would lie to her on purpose but they had also just met Stiles so how could they even know for sure? 

She was sure that Stiles had feelings for her; she wouldn’t be with him if she didn’t. But the whole situation with Malia still made her to worry a little. But she was going to enjoy the last hours she had with Stiles before he was going to his grandparents. She could still worry about Malia when they got back to Beacon Hills. 

“I think I should go to sleep now, I’m really tired”, Lydia just said, obviously avoiding the topic. Sophia and Jamie looked at each other smirking but before they could say anything else Lydia already disappeared out the door with a quick “goodnight”. 

Back in the guestroom Stiles was still asleep, lying on his side facing the empty space where Lydia was supposed to be lying. She climbed into the bed, careful not to wake Stiles, but she felt him stir next to her. She turned onto her side to look at him and saw him opening his eyes sleepily. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you”, Lydia apologised quietly. 

“Where have you been?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“I just talked to Sophia and Jamie for a little while”, Lydia answered while running her fingers through his hair. 

“What did you talk about?” he asked, suddenly sounding much more awake. “Did you talk about me?” he added smirking. 

“Maybe…” Lydia answered mysteriously. 

“Oh, you so did talk about me!” Stiles grinned. 

“We should get some sleep!” Lydia said laughing. 

Lydia turned around, actively ignoring his question, getting ready to sleep. Suddenly she felt Stiles’ arm wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to him until her back was pressed to his chest. He pressed a kiss to her head before they fell asleep in the same position they had been sleeping in for the past two nights, as close to each other as possible.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! Please don't hit me for what you are about to read... ;)   
> There will be one more chapter plus one epilog after this!  
> Pleeeease leave comments!

The next morning they ate breakfast together and Lydia was already dreading the moment she had to say goodbye to Stiles even though it would just be for about two weeks. 

Lydia started unpacking her clothes while Stiles was in the shower when she suddenly heard a phone ring. She noticed Stiles phone on the nightstand and saw that the Sheriff was calling his son. She would never pick up another person’s phone, but this was Stiles and she knew them well enough to not even need to think twice before picking up. 

"H..." she started to say, but was immediately cut off by the Sheriffs voice.

"What the hell are you thinking? It's one thing that you decide to spend your holidays driving Lydia across the country just because she is afraid of flying and you have nothing to do but go out of your way for her, but it is a totally different thing to ignore my calls and texts WHEN THERE IS A STORM WHERE YOU ARE! I have been worried sick! So what's your excuse this time, because I'm sure you have one!" 

Lydia had never heard the Sheriff so upset and angry and she was shocked into silence. 

"Um... hi Sheriff, this is Lydia", was all she could come up with. 

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. She was guessing that he was just as shocked as she was.

"Oh my god, Lydia! I'm so sorry! I thought you were Stiles, obviously.." he said quietly. 

"Stiles is in the shower", Lydia replied slowly. "I will tell him that you called", she added. 

After an awkward goodbye and some more apologies they hung up. Lydia couldn't remember a single moment where the sheriff had been acting like this. But she couldn't really blame him, she would've been just as worried if she would have been in his position. 

And suddenly it hit her. The sheriff had said that Stiles was driving her cross country for no reason. What did he mean by that? She had only agreed to this because Stiles had said that he was going to his grandparents and that Seattle was on his way. 

She had even looked it up, even though she had already known that Seattle was on the way to Portland, just to make sure. Had he made it up? Had he lied to her just to drive her to Seattle? That wouldn't make any sense at all. Why on earth would he willingly drive about 2000 miles just so that she wouldn't have to fly? She knew that Stiles always went out of his way for her but this was just crazy. 

And the worst part was that it would mean that he had lied to her. 

Lydia had been sitting on the bed thinking about the whole situation. But then she decided to just ask him. There was no use in thinking about this when she couldn’t figure this out by herself.

When Stiles finally came back from the shower Lydia got up from the bed. She had been trying to find the right way to ask him this question and to tell him about what happened but she couldn’t come up with anything. 

"What's up?" Stiles asked when he entered the room. He could see that something was bothering her and it made him nervous. 

"Your dad called!" Lydia stated firmly. She could see that Stiles was getting nervous as he started to fidget with his hands and rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Well, what did he say?" Stiles asked carefully when she didn't continue. 

"He yelled at me, or well, he thought he was yelling at you. He said that he had been worried about you because you hadn't answered any of his calls or texts".

"Yeah, that's right. I completely forgot to call him back. Sorry he yelled at you…" Stiles realised, slightly relaxing until he saw the look on her face. 

"Did he say something else?" he asked.

"He said something like driving Lydia across country for no reason and I have been thinking about that the whole time now but I can't seem to understand what he means by that!" she answered. “The only possible explanation that I have come up with is that you lied to me. That you are not going to your grandparents for the holidays or that you probably don't even have grandparents in Portland." Even though she tried to stay calm she couldn't do anything against her voice rising towards the end. 

Stiles just stood there, gaping at her with wide eyes. And that was really all the answer she needed. She still couldn't believe that he had lied to her. After Jackson she had promised herself to not ever be in a relationship or even friendship with people who lied to her. Jackson had lied to her constantly and so had her dad before he left. Lies had been the reason for so many of her heartbreaks that she had kind of established a no tolerance rule when it came to lying.

“You should go”, she said coldly, looking at the ground.

“What? No, Lydia! You can’t be serious.” Stiles stuttered, panic clearly visible in his eyes. “I just said that because I knew you would never agree to this if you didn’t think that I was driving here anyway. I know it wasn’t the cleverest idea and I shouldn’t have lied to you but come on, Lydia, you can’t do this. Don’t throw this all away because of this...” 

Lydia didn’t say anything and instead just kept staring at the floor. 

“Lydia, please. Look at me.“ He said pleading. When she still didn’t react he walked up to her slowly and carefully lifted her chin with his hand so that she had to look at him. “I only said it to help you. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

But even while he was saying it, he knew that he had already lost her. Her face was completely expressionless and he knew that she had put up the walls around her again. He had seen that expression on her too many times to count but he had never been on the receiving end of it and he had hoped he never would be. 

He wished that she would yell at him for lying to her or even punch him or cry or anything else that showed her emotions. The expression on her face was cold and made Stiles shiver. 

“Just go Stiles”, she said, turning her face away from him and walking out of the room. 

Stiles watched her go and knew better than to go after her. She had closed herself up completely and he knew he couldn’t do anything to change that right now. He sat down on the bed with his head in his hands and tried to process what had just happened. He couldn’t believe that he had screwed this up only a day after it started. He knew that he needed to get up and leave but he couldn’t get himself to move. 

“Um… Stiles? I think you should go now…”, Sophia said quietly when he still hadn’t left the apartment fifteen minutes later. 

“I know, I’m sorry.” He replied, wiping away the few tears that had escaped his eyes. He got up and quickly threw the last of his clothes into his bag before turning to walk out the door. 

“Thanks for letting me stay here tonight”, Stiles said politely when he passed Sophia. 

“She is completely in love with you, you know? I’m just not sure if she is ready to admit it to herself.” Sophia said quietly and Stiles stopped walking and gaped at her. 

“I’m not so sure about that anymore…” Stiles replied. “I know it wasn’t right to lie to her, but I only did it to help her and I… I don’t know what to think anymore…” 

“Lydia is scared. Just think about it, her history with boys is not exactly the best and she is scared of getting hurt again, so she tends to retreat into herself at the smallest signs of problems. Give her some time, Jamie and I will talk to her.” Sophia explained, hoping that Stiles wouldn’t give up on their relationship just yet. 

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. And if you knew me better, you would know that I would never give up on us. Just tell her she can have all the time she needs and she can call me anytime, day or night!” 

Sophia nodded in response and smiled at him. “You know, I really like you. I have never seen Lydia as happy as she was around you yesterday. So thank you!” 

Stiles smiled at her sadly, and after exchanging numbers he left. 

Sophia went back inside to look for Lydia and Jamie. Lydia was lying on Jamie’s bed with her face buried in her pillows and her body was heaving with sobs. Jamie was sitting next to Lydia, trying to calm her down but she was clearly a little helpless and relief washed over her face when she saw her sister come in. 

Neither of them had ever needed to deal with such an emotional version of Lydia and neither had a clue how to handle it. They just sat next to her and let her cry for a while before Lydia finally spoke. 

“Did he leave?” she asked, her voice raspy from crying. 

“Yes, he left”, Sophia replied softly. 

Lydia sat up and wiped away her tears. Her eyes were puffy and red and Jamie handed her a tissue. They sat in silence for a little while until her curiosity got the better of Jamie. 

“What happened? What did he lie to you about?” she asked. 

Lydia had just told them the gist of it earlier and now that she had calmed down she told them the whole story. Sophia and Jamie looked at each other and were both at a loss for words, thinking the exact same thing, before Jamie finally said it out loud. 

“That’s it?” she asked, genuinely shocked. She had thought that he had a secret girlfriend or something comparable to that. She couldn’t understand why Lydia was so upset about the little white lie that Stiles told. 

“What do you mean? He LIED to me! Isn’t that bad enough?” Lydia answered, just as shocked. 

“Ok, sure, it wasn’t right that he lied to you, but Lydia, he only did this for you. He wanted to help you get here and he knew that that was the only way he would get you to agree. So can’t you just let it go?” She suggested carefully. 

“Let it go? He lied to me, Jamie. I can’t just forget that! And the worst part is that he knows how I hate lies, and he did it anyway!” Lydia replied, not believing what her cousin had just said. She couldn’t just forget it. That’s how it always started. First, they told little, white lies and then eventually the lies would get bigger and bigger and in the end it was always Lydia who was getting hurt. 

“Lydia, I know you’re upset and you have every right to be. But do you really think that Stiles would ever do anything like Jackson has? I think you should give him another chance. I’m certain that he is completely in love with and you know it.” 

Lydia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her cousins were seriously taking Stiles’ side instead of hers. They only knew him for a day! 

“And this doesn’t mean that we are on his side!” Sophia added as if she had been reading her mind. 

“Ok, so what are we doing today? Can you show me your campus?” Lydia said, changing the topic and putting on her fake smile. 

Sophia and Jamie shared a look and silently agreed to let Lydia get away with changing the topic for now. They decided to go shopping to cheer Lydia up and when they got back they watched movies, carefully choosing the ones that didn’t have any love stories in them, which was really hard. They ordered a pizza and ate sweets and ice cream until neither of them could fit anything else. 

“I think I’m going to call it a night”, Lydia yawned. She was exhausted from crying and she just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep. 

They said goodnight and Lydia got ready for bed. Luckily she was so exhausted that she fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow so she didn’t have to think about Stiles.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter!! I hope everyone is satisfied with this ending!   
> There will be an epilog that deals with them getting back to Beacon Hills.   
> Pleave comment! :D

Lydia woke up because she felt someone shaking her shoulder. 

“Lydia, wake up!” she heard Jamie say. 

She opened her eyes slowly and noticed that her eyes were watery and tears were streaming down her face. 

“What happened?” she asked, confused while wiping away the tears even though they just kept coming.

“You were screaming and thrashing around and you wouldn’t wake up. We have been trying to wake you up for at least 3 minutes.” Sophia said, relief evident in her eyes but Lydia could also still see the panic that she must have felt when Lydia wouldn’t wake up. 

“Did you have a nightmare?” Jamie asked. 

“I don’t know, I don’t remember.” Lydia answered and suddenly everything came back to her. The man in the woods, attacking her and pushing her further into the woods. But in her dream Stiles hadn’t come to save her and she had been all alone. The tears were streaming down her face again and Lydia just wanted to call Stiles and have him put his arms around her but she knew she couldn’t. 

Lydia knew she had to tell her cousins about what had happened. And maybe it was good to talk to someone about it, to get it out of her system. So far no one knew about it except for Stiles and they hadn’t really talked about it because she didn’t want to and because he was there with her. 

She decided that she would tell them in the morning. Now they all needed to get some sleep and Lydia only wanted to try to forget about the attack for now. Sophia and Jamie were both very understanding and after making sure Lydia was okay to stay in the guestroom by herself, they went back to their rooms. 

Lydia couldn’t fall back asleep. She was afraid of having nightmares again and she didn’t want to scream and wake her cousins again. She spent the rest of the night trying not to call Stiles and thought about everything that had happened since they had left Beacon Hills four days ago. She couldn’t believe that they had only left four days ago. To Lydia it felt like a lifetime because so much had changed in such a short amount of time. 

She didn’t know that it was possible to develop such strong feelings for someone in less than a week. Even though she had already had feelings for Stiles, she couldn’t deny how much they had increased since they had started the road trip. When she had finally allowed herself to have these feelings for Stiles and had stopped to suppress them, they had multiplied by the second. She had started to notice all the little things that Stiles did for her so naturally. He held open every door for her, always made sure she was happy and comfortable and when she wasn’t he did his best to change whatever was bothering her. 

But then he had lied to her and now she couldn’t trust him anymore. She knew that it was only a little lie and that her reaction probably seemed totally out of line for everyone else, but it wasn’t about what he lied about. It was about the fact that he lied to her in the first place. 

After tossing and turning and trying her hardest not to fall asleep it was finally morning and Lydia decided to get up and make breakfast to make up for the interrupting their sleep. She already dreaded the upcoming conversation but she felt ready for it and she wanted to get it out of the way. 

“Good morning, you are just on time”, Lydia greeted Sophia and Jamie when they walked in just as she was putting scrambled eggs on their plates. 

“That smells delicious!” Jamie complimented and started taking the plates to the already set table. They sat down and ate and Sophia and Jamie told Lydia about college and everything else they could think of. But they could all feel the elephant in the room, they were still wondering what Lydia’s nightmare had been about. 

After breakfast the three girls went into the living room and got comfortable and Lydia started to tell them what happened. She told them about the disgusting restrooms, the man in the woods, Stiles coming to help her and about Stiles comforting her. When she got to the part of the attack a few tears escaped her eyes but other than that she was able to keep it together. 

“So you haven’t spent one night without Stiles since then except for last night?” Sophia asked thoughtfully. 

“No, why?” Lydia asked confused by her question. She had expected all kinds of questions, but that one hadn’t even crossed her mind. 

“Well, because this was the first night that you have had a nightmare since it happened and I thought that maybe he could be reason that you..” Sophia explained. 

“No!” Lydia interrupted the second she understood where Sophia was going with this. “I really don’t want to talk about him.” 

“Sorry…” Sophia apologised. She didn’t want to push Lydia but she was convinced that Stiles was the right one for Lydia. “How about we stay in our PJ’s and watch movies all day?” She added to lighten the mood. 

“Best. Idea. Ever!” Lydia said grinning at her cousin. They got all the blankets and pillows and made themselves comfortable on the floor. One hour into the second film Lydia fell asleep. 

*****

Stiles was feeling awful. He had screwed up and he knew it. Since didn’t have anywhere to go he had spent the night in his jeep at a parking lot near Sophia and Jamie’s apartment. He was still hoping for Lydia to call him to tell him to come back. He wanted to call her and apologise again but every time he picked up his phone he heard Sophia’s words in his mind, telling him to give her space. 

He knew that Sophia was right but it was really difficult not to call Lydia and to try to make everything okay again. He couldn’t stand knowing that she was suffering and not being able to do anything about it. Especially now that he was the reason she was hurting. 

Stiles spent the morning driving around, looking for cheap motel that was also close to Lydia. He had thought about just staying in his jeep for the two weeks but his back was already hurting pretty bad after only one night. And he didn’t want to find out how bad it would be after two weeks. 

Around two pm Stiles finally heard the sound he had been waiting for since he had left the apartment. He picked up his phone and answered it without looking at the screen. 

“Lydia?” he asked hopeful.

“Hey, no, um this is Sophia. I’m sorry that I’m calling but we don’t know what to do anymore…” Sophia stuttered, her voice full of worry. 

“What happened? Is Lydia okay?” Stiles asked, panic already taking over. 

“No, I don’t know! Can you come over?” 

“I’ll be there in 10 minutes!” 

*****

A few minutes after Lydia had fallen asleep she started to toss and turn and even though she didn’t scream, tears were streaming down her face again. Sophia and Jamie had tried to wake her up and they had eventually succeeded but Lydia wouldn’t stop crying. Jamie and Sophia both tried to comfort her but when they tried to hug her she had started to scream. Neither of them knew what to do and the only thing Sophia could think of was to call Stiles. 

“I’m going to call Stiles”, she had told Lydia and even though Lydia had protested she called him anyway. 

10 minutes after they had hung up Stiles knocked on their door. He immediately went into the living room, following the noise of crying. When he saw Lydia in the midst of all the blankets, crying and sobbing, his heart clenched. He went over to her and tried to touch her shoulder but before he could make contact with her skin, Jamie stopped him. 

“Wait. When we tried to touch her she screamed…” Jamie explained, warning him. 

Stiles just nodded and knelt down next to Lydia. She was lying on her side, her back to Stiles. Stiles lightly touched her shoulder and the second she felt it she turned around getting ready to scream. But when she saw Stiles’ face she whispered his name and threw herself into his arms. He sat down properly and pulled her closer to him, holding her as tightly as he could. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” She kept whispering while he mumbled soothing noises into her hair. She seemed to calm down a little and finally she looked up. 

“I’m sorry!” she repeated again, this time looking into his eyes. “I shouldn’t have told you to leave”, she admitted. 

“It’s okay. Don’t apologise, Lydia, I’m the one who screwed up. But I’m here now and I won’t go anywhere, okay?” he assured her and she buried her face back in his shirt. 

They stayed like this until Lydia had calmed down completely. She stood up and pulled Stiles to sit on the couch with her. Lydia just stared at him and he couldn’t read the emotion in her eyes. He didn’t think that she was still angry at him but he also wasn’t sure how to act around her after everything. 

“We should probably talk… But before you yell at me or whatever you have planned I just want to say that the only reason I lied was to help you! I have seen the look in your eyes when you told me about your fear of flying and I just knew that I had to help you somehow! And I knew you would say no because you would never let me do this for you but…” 

But before he could finish his speech Lydia cut him off by pressing her lips to his. She couldn’t wait any longer and she didn’t want to talk about their stupid fight anymore. She knew that she had overreacted but when she had found out, it had seemed like the start of her relationship with Jackson all over again and she had snapped. 

But now that he was right in front of her she realised that Stiles had lied for an entirely different reason than Jackson had used to. Jackson had lied for his own good and to keep Lydia from finding out what he had really been up to. But Stiles had lied to her for her benefit. He had done it to make sure she wouldn’t have to board a plane and was still able to visit her cousins. And she had finally realised that it was indeed a different kind of lying and it proved once again that Stiles was nothing like Jackson. 

Stiles was surprised by her kiss but the second he felt her lips on his he started to kiss her back. They were completely lost in the moment for a while until Lydia remembered her cousins. They had left the room when they saw that Stiles was able to comfort her to give them some privacy.

“I should really talk to Sophia and Jamie”, Lydia said between kisses, not moving to actually get up. 

“Yes, they are probably still worried”, Stiles replied in the same way. 

They eventually let go of each other reluctantly and Lydia walked into Jamie’s room where she found her two cousins, talking silently. 

“Hey”, Lydia said and they looked up and walked over to Lydia to hug her. But they both stopped a few inches in front of her, remembering how Lydia had reacted the last time they had touched her. 

“It’s okay to hug me now!” Lydia answered blushing, before she closed the distance and hugged her cousins. 

“You really scared us there!” Sophia said after they had let go of each other. 

“I know, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. But thanks for calling Stiles, that really helped.” Lydia said thankfully. 

“Of course!” Sophia answered. “I really like him by the way, I think you should keep him”, she joked, lightning the mood. “Oh and he can stay here with you of course, if you want to!”

“That would be great, thanks! And you are right; I plan on keeping him for a very long time!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, this is it!  
> I really enjoyed writing this story and it's the first one I've written so I would love to hear what you think about it.  
> I've already written another story that I will post soon.  
> So please, one last time, leave comments! Criticism is appreciated :)

After spending two weeks with Sophia and Jamie, Stiles and Lydia drove back to Beacon Hills without any incidents. They were happy to be back home but it also meant that they wouldn’t be spending every second together. Lydia and Stiles had agreed to keep their relationship a secret for a while before telling their friends. Stiles wanted to make sure to tell Malia what was going on before they made it official and Lydia didn’t mind even though she couldn’t wait to tell Allison. 

Before the holidays had started, they had planned a movie night for when Stiles and Lydia got back from their trip. Since Malia went on a trip with her dad and the other members of the pack were all busy or on holiday as well Scott and Allison were the only ones joining Stiles and Lydia for the movie night. 

They were meeting at Lydia’s house at 7pm and Lydia couldn’t wait. She hadn’t seen Stiles since they had gotten back from their trip three days ago because they had both spent time with their parents, not leaving any time for the two of them. The worst part for Lydia had been the nights. She was still having nightmares about the attack sometimes, but Stiles had told her to call him anytime she needed to and his voice always calmed her down. 

It was now 6pm and Lydia was counting the minutes. Stiles had said he would try to be there early so that they could have at least have a few moments to themselves before the movie night, but he didn’t know if he would be able to make it. Lydia also couldn’t wait to see Allison again. She just got back from visiting her friends back in San Francisco today and Lydia couldn’t wait to tell her about her trip even though she couldn’t tell her about Stiles just yet. 

At a quarter to 7 Lydia heard a car pulling up her driveway and Lydia went to open her front door excitedly, hoping that it would be Stiles. A huge grin spread across her face as she watched Stiles climb out of his jeep with a grin that was matching hers. She waited for him in her doorway and just when he was about to greet her with a kiss Lydia pulled him into hug when she saw Scott and Allison arrive too. 

Stiles pulled back and looked at her confused but quickly understood when he heard Scott’s car. He groaned annoyed before turning around and smiling at Allison and Scott who were approaching them. Allison ran up to them and into Lydia’s arms, completely ignoring Stiles. When hugs and pats on the shoulder had been exchanged they all went inside and made themselves comfortable in Lydia’s living room. 

Usually Lydia would always end up sitting next to Stiles but somehow she had ended up sitting between Scott and Allison today, with Stiles sitting on the chair. Lydia looked at Stiles apologetically when Scott and Allison weren’t looking and Stiles smiled at her warmly. They decided to watch Meet the parents, Lydia’s favourite movie, and even though Lydia loved the movie, she couldn’t get comfortable without Stiles next to her. 

She made up excuses to get up hoping that Allison and Scott would move to sit together in the meantime so she could sit next to Stiles but she had no such luck. About halfway through the movie Lydia excused herself for the fourth time, this time to get some more drinks, when Stiles followed her. He had of course noticed that she was leaving so often and had wanted to make sure she was alright.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly, wrapping his arms around Lydia from behind. 

She leaned back into him and relaxed instantly. Stiles’ hugs always had that effect on her. 

“I just missed you and I can’t seem to get comfortable without you next me…” Lydia admitted quietly. 

Stiles turned her around in his arms and looked at her with eyes full of emotion. He cupped her cheeks with his hands and shook his head, still not believing that he was able to touch her after all the years he had wanted to but couldn’t. Lydia’s hands rested on his chest and she looked up at him with anticipation. She couldn’t wait to kiss him again after three days of not seeing him. 

He leaned in slowly and Lydia met him halfway, not being able to wait until his lips finally met hers again. Her hands moved to the back of his neck as Stiles wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer to him. They were both completely lost in the other and so neither of them heard the footsteps that were approaching the kitchen. 

“I KNEW IT” Allison squealed the second she saw them. Scott practically ran into the kitchen when he heard Allison’s squeal and joined them before Stiles and Lydia were able to move away from each other. 

Lydia blushed a deep red and looked at Stiles who was grinning at Scott and a smile took over her face too. 

“Why didn’t you guys tell us? We have been waiting for you to get together since… forever!” Allison couldn’t help but add. 

“We were going to tell Malia first but since she isn’t around at the moment we couldn’t tell you just yet…” Stiles explained, pulling Lydia into his side just because he could. She smiled up at him and Allison let out a quiet “aww”, causing Lydia to laugh. 

“If the two of you weren’t so cute right now I would drag you upstairs and force you to tell me everything but lucky for you, you two are too adorable right now.” Allison said. 

“Just so you know, we were trying to make sure you wouldn’t have to sit next to each other tonight so it wouldn’t be awkward for you guys because it could seem like a double date…” Scott explained laughing. 

“That was really considerate of you, but not necessary”, Lydia laughed, leaning further into Stiles. 

“I can see that!” Scott smirked. “I am really happy for you. I guess we should get going and give you two some time alone, considering that you haven’t seen each other since you came back. 

They said their goodbyes and after promising Allison to meet her the next day and tell her everything about the trip and how everything happened with Stiles, the two were finally alone. They cleaned up the living room and the kitchen together and when they were finished, Lydia suddenly found Stiles staring at her. 

“What?” she asked curiously.

Stiles made his way across the kitchen and stood in front of her, looking her straight in the eyes causing Lydia to shiver a little. She would never get used to the way he looked at her with all of his emotion for her showing in his eyes. He raised a hand to her cheek and rubbed gentle circles without taking his eyes off of her. Lydia looked back at him, hoping that he could see her feelings for him in her eyes as well. 

“I love you”, Stiles said quietly but confidently at the same time. Lydia’s breath hitched and she felt her eyes water at his words. She was overwhelmed with her own emotions and it was then that she realised that Sophia and Jamie had been right all along: She was in love with him. She was having trouble putting her feelings into words and instead of struggling any longer she just pulled him closer to him and pressed her lips to his. 

Stiles seemed perfectly content with kissing her, not needing to hear her say the words back. He knew that he had a head start when it came to his feelings for her and he was perfectly content with waiting for her feelings to catch up to his. He hadn’t said it to hear her say it back but simply because he wanted her to know that he was in love with her and that he was hers completely. 

A few minutes later Lydia pulled back a little to look into Stiles’ eyes again. The butterflies in her stomach were flying around wildly and suddenly the words just spilled out of her. 

“I love you!” She said, surprising both herself and Stiles. She didn’t think that she was ready to say it and she didn’t say it because Stiles had or because she was expected to say it back, but because it was what she felt in her heart. 

Stiles stroked her cheek and shook his head disbelievingly. 

“I still can’t believe this is really happening” Stiles said, still stroking her cheek before pulling her into a hug. 

“You will have a lot of time to get used to it, I promise!”


End file.
